


Maverick X Files

by Ysavvryl



Category: Rockman X | Mega Man X
Genre: Aliens, Crack, Gen, Ghosts, Motorcycles, Out of Character, Weirdness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-05
Updated: 2016-02-26
Packaged: 2018-05-18 09:43:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 45
Words: 122,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5923750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ysavvryl/pseuds/Ysavvryl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if X never got through his ethics tests and became a biker instead?  What if Zero was so messed up that he thought he was a guitar goddess?  These and many other questions you never asked get answered here.  Maybe.  The truth is out there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. That New Millennium Smell

**Author's Note:**

> This happens to be the very first fanfiction I posted on the internet and some people still ask about it. I think the tags explain it all.

It was a slushy snowy December day. But the sun was shining, and it was fairly pleasant in Detroit. People, both human and reploid, walked out on the streets in either heavy clothes or winter armor and enjoyed the day.

"The end of the world is drawing near! Repent and make yourselves clean for the Day of Judgment! That is the only way to ensure your continued happiness."

Well, most everyone was enjoying the day. Forte was at his usual task of trying to convert the world before it ended. Which he was absolutely certain would happen shortly. Within the next day. He believed that every day, and prayed every night that it would hold off for one more day. So far it was working. But eventually, the world would end no matter what he did.

He spotted a fair sized group headed towards the fire hydrant he was standing on to preach at everyone. It seemed tense between them, so he yelled out, "Friendship is sacred. You should not let petty differences come between you, for you will need all the help you can get when the world ends."

A couple of them snickered. "Bloody hell," another said, "do we have to get yelled at everywhere?"

They moved on.

Forte was quite disappointed with himself. Today had not been a good day for religious conversions. Perhaps he should just spend the rest of Time visiting his favorite cathedral and hoping that he'd done well enough to ensure his own good judgment. It worried him to no end that he would come up short because of his ignorant days as a robot.

He hopped off the fire hydrant. Almost as soon as he did, he heard, "Giving up so early, short stuff?"

That voice. He did not want to hear that voice on a day that was already horrible. He turned quickly. "X, you damned fool! How dare you address me like that when you make your father's soul suffer the way you do. Your actions ensure that you will burn in hell for eternity!"

"***, don't get your circuits overloaded," X replied. He had a bottle of beer in his hand, which he opened by biting off the bottle cap and eating it. "I'm not looking for a fight today."

"I mean it," Forte said, emphasizing his point by stamping his right foot. "The way you carry on, living life from sin to sin, causing violence merely because you are bored, taking what does not belong to you by seriously skewed logic… you have no right to do what you do and get away with it."

X laughed. "Then why don't you tell the ***** Maverick Hunters about me? I'm sure they'd love to locate me."

"You should not have to be forced to do what it right; you should do it for your soul's sake, and your father's. But mark my words, the next time someone dies because of you, I am reporting everything I know of you."

Unfortunately, that threat wasn't taken seriously. "Oh sure, like you haven't killed anyone. Besides, why the heck are you taking Dr. Light's side anyways? He's a ***** jerk."

"Thomas Light was the kindest, wisest, and best person I have ever met. Don't speak of him that way! I simply wasn't able to realize that until it was too late for me to ask for his forgiveness. And for that I am suffering. And for that I can't stand to see you make his ghost suffer because you have fallen so low. I will make you change, even if I have to drag you kicking and screaming the whole way."

"Sheesh. You must have been a lot more fun to hang around with before you turned into this fire and brimstone preacher."

"That's the Oracle of Time, remember?"

X rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever. Look, why're you ruining everyone's New Year's Eve? This is supposed to be a day of celebration."

"It's not ruining… it's New Years Eve?"

"Duh."

"Of what year? Please tell me."

"*** ****, you're the Oracle of Time, remember?"

Forte pulled a gold pocket watch off his hip and opened it. "Well, the Clock is broken, so I can't really know what Time it exactly is…"

"Idiot." He took a drink. "It's 2100, and it's going to be 2101. True start of the new century. And I'm damn glad the last one is almost over."

"I don't quite trust you," he said. Another group of people were walking by, so Forte called out, "Hey, what year is it?"

"Aren't reploids supposed to know that instinctively?" one woman asked.

"It's 2101!"

"Not for a few hours," another said, roughly shoving the other aside. "It's 2100, for the rest of this day."

"And there's gonna be a huge street party," the loud one added.

"Yes!" Forte suddenly shouted, startling everyone else with his volume. "The era of evil is finally over! I'm free! Wa-hoo!"

And he ran off across the street.

X laughed loudly over this. "****, he's so easily excited." And he continued on the way he had been walking.

The other group looked at each other. "What the hell was that all about?"

"Crazy reploids," the woman said.

* * *

"Our Maverick Hunters are coming together nicely," Dr. Cain said as he walked in the park. Two reploids accompanied him. "You're doing a splendid job Sigma."

The tallest of the trio, and also the baldest, nodded. "We've got good reploids in the force now. And so far everyone is keeping the goal of protecting all forms of life on Earth close to heart. We won't let the mavericks terrorize any more."

"I like how you've split the units up," Cain went on. "Every team is balanced and keeps an eye on itself. But I felt you could use some experience in the group, so I've talked this one into joining. This is Blues, formerly of the FBI. It was for twenty-four years, am I correct?"

"Yes, that is right," he finally spoke up. Sigma was finding this experienced agent a bit ghostly. He moved without making a sound and would not remove his sunglasses or scarf for anything. Still, a reploid trained with a force other than a military was welcome.

"What did you do there?" Sigma asked.

"Investigating, sometimes undercover," Blues said. "I was sent on cases no human could do, but since the forming of the Maverick Hunters, most of those bypass the IBI and go straight to you."

"Can you fight?"

"Can fish swim?"

"Blues is an honored FBI agent," Cain cut in. "And he's experienced with leadership. I think you could put him in charge of Squad 16 with no trouble."

"I was thinking that too. I hope you don't mind. 16 is a good unit and one of the larger ones, but there's no clear-cut leader in the group yet. None of them are really leadership material."

"If they're fine with that, I will be."

"I'm free!" A short black reploid ran across their path, gleefully shouting.

Blues caught him by the shoulder. "Watch where you're going."

Forte turned, grinned, and hugged him. "It's almost over! The century of evil is almost over. I'm going to be free by midnight! Isn't that swell?"

"I guess."

Forte skipped back a few steps and bowed. "God is gracious, even to some of the worst of us. I'm so happy. Yee-haw!" Then he kept running.

"Who was that?" Sigma said.

Blues grinned. He wasn't facing the other two. "I have no idea."

* * *

The Detroit Museum of Art was a quiet place most days. Winter was their best season, as people came looking for intellectual indoor activities. Currently, the showcase gallery was displaying a number of paintings by reploids. Since that was the case, the guard for that area had to be a reploid. It was politically correct, the curator had explained, so the usual guard of the showcase gallery, a robot, was reassigned to the Renaissance wing for the duration of the show. Rock was okay with that; then again, he was okay with pretty much every order given to him. He was a robot, after all.

He was just under four feet high, because he wasn't wearing his helmet at the moment. He looked very much like a boy of ten and most people assumed that the security badge he was wearing on his chest plate was a plaything. Still, he could assume a commanding look in his eyes that made one take him seriously.

"No touching yourself in front of the nudes," he told a rule-breaking man.

He looked startled at Rock. His face turned bright red. "Sorry." He ran off and left the museum.

These days, Rock rarely dealt with any seriously bad people. There was once a time when he had done such, but now he was an art museum guard. He applied himself as seriously to the job he was at today as to when he'd been a hero of decades past. The Detroit Museum of Art was recognized as the safest museum in the world, mostly because of Rock's determination.

The only other incident of this day was late in the evening, when the museum was closing down. Tonight, there was no need for steering people out to the exit. New Year's Eve. Most people were already partying, and Rock would shortly be the only one in the museum. But before the doors could be locked, someone from his past came rushing in.

"Rock, there you are!" Forte came running up to him. "Guess what, guess what, guess what?"

"You don't have to be redundant," Rock said.

Forte grabbed his shoulders. "I'm free! This century is gone and my era of freedom has begun! I never thought this day would come!"

"There's still two hours left."

"I don't think even Dr. Wily could blow up the world in two hours. That means I'm free! The world is going to live and I can finally do what I want."

"Dr. Wily's dead," Rock reminded his old rival. "We were both there, remember? I'm pretty sure that having a human's head explode is going to kill him."

Forte paused. "Oh yeah, you're a robot, you don't understand. It didn't matter if he died, he still held me captive. His spirit was always there, always looming over me trying to get me to do what he wanted, even though he gave me the ability to choose what I wanted to do for myself. So I set about to warning the world that he was going to destroy the world. I wasn't sure how, but I thought he would. But the century is over! He said he would rule the world or erase it by 2101. But if it's still here and he's still dead, we're all free. And I'm especially free."

"Is your mind operating correctly? You seem to be illogical."

"You poor dear," he sighed. "You're very sweet, but your mind is closed. I envy your spiritual innocence, even though I know you have no soul. I didn't expect you to be worried about me. I thought you'd be happy for me since I was finally completely free. That's why I came all the way out here to visit you."

"Thanks, I guess."

Forte began jumping up and down. "But I'm free. That's all that matters now."

"That's good. Are you going to be good now?"

"Of course. I am a prophet!" He jumped back and began emphasizing his points with exaggerated movements. "I am a follower of the true God and a believer in things of the spiritual realm. When my mind was closed, I did evil things thinking I was doing right, because I was following orders. But now I know that I sinned horribly in what I was doing under Wily's orders. So I've set off to save the world's souls before the destruction came. But it never did! Now I will continue to save the souls of the world, both human and reploid. For the world still needs a spiritual revolution, and I will lead it!" He bowed.

"I don't get it," Rock said. "But if you'll stop doing bad things,"

"Certainly."

He smiled. "That's good."

"Excellent! Want to come out with me and celebrate the new century? I'm going to find a cathedral to pray that this era is one of holiness instead of evil."

"No, I'm working. I must protect the art."

"Beauty has its place in the world, so long as it serves the spiritual needs of the people. As always, you find the most holy paths to follow. May God bless you, sweet Rock."

"Uh, may God bless you too Forte."

"You really deserve a soul, far more than me. All well. See you later."

* * *

It was a huge street party in Detroit for the New Year, 2101. Just about every organization in the world had some representative there, handing out free advertising and promises for the new century. That included some of the underground organizations, say the budding mafia of Repliforce.

"Honestly," Iris said to her brother, "you'd think even drunk people would remember to have manners."

"It's generally not that way," Colonel told her as he tried to keep some suspect individuals from getting too close. "You're sure you want to be out here?"

"It's good for business and we only have to be out here a little while longer. See, they're starting the countdown already."

Personally, Iris thought the whole deal of celebrating every single year's beginning to be a bit silly. But she owned a number of bars, which did incredibly good business on these sorts of holidays. So she had to be out here, encouraging already drunk individuals to go out to her pub, or maybe even the new casino she had started a few months ago. That would be even better.

She crossed her arms and waited through the loud counting down. She would not stoop to joining in such traditions. But when it got to one, she did look up to the main stage, where a giant laser light display would start a glittering celebration.

She didn't get to see it. Some drunken reploid had grabbed her and kissed her right on the lips. It was done with such stealth that she would have been impressed if her temper was anywhere near calm.

She pushed him off her. "What in heaven's name was that for!"

He put his hands over his lips and laughed. "For good luck, of course pretty girl. You do know that is the way to insure a very happy year, especially if you stick with the person the rest of the night." He winked insidiously at her.

"How dare you do that to me. I don't even know who you are."

"Well, if you must know," he said, mocking her high class accent, "I am Rockman X. How do you do and who be you?"

"You blue collar jerk. Colonel!"

"Hang on Iris," she heard from behind. "I've gotten a bit swept away."

"Oh, so you're Iris," X said. "Well, Iris, m'dear, did you know that this little interlude of ours means our destinies for this century are intertwined now? Eh? So why don't you stick with me for the rest of the night? I know how to have a good time."

"My brother is going to clobber you until you beg for mercy."

"Well, in that case, sayonara chicky. Your loss."

Colonel finally got back to Iris. "What is it princess?"

"This idiot…" she looked around, but he wasn't there. "Oh, some drunken fool kissed me and tried to hit on me. Let's go home."

He sighed. "Finally. Thank goodness."

"I agree. This was a waste of time."

* * *

In New York City, the fireworks display was going off splendidly. It was now New Year's Day, 2101. Everyone was celebrating. The Brooklyn Bridge was closed off for public safety, but someone had managed to get on it anyways. Zero had climbed to the top of the bridge support tower and was watching the fireworks show from up there, despite the fact that some of the shells were exploding close to him. He figured the best view was up there.

"Time, time, time, what has become of me," he sang to himself.

When the show ended, the bridge was quickly searched for explosives, then reopened for business traffic. But no one heeded Zero. No one knew he was even up there.

Off his back, he got his guitar and strummed it a bit. "New year, new century," he rambled on. "New history. Be on your guard, mortals. In this new time, you will have a new rule, new order, and new fears. Within a short time, you will know my name. You will know my powers. You will know me as the King of Rock and Roll."

Then he fired off an intense riff, leading into a song of his own making. If anyone had been around to hear him, they would be quite impressed. He was a guitar master.

"I am better than all of you. I know all the songs, I know all the tricks. I am not Elvis reborn, nor Kenny G, nor the Who, nor the Beatles, nor any of those paltry bands. I am the immortal master of music. I am Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart! I will come back into your music halls and radio waves and prove myself the sole master. I will czzzttt I will destroy you all, worthless humans, stupid reploids, all of you will die for denying the true master czzzttt… ow, damn migraines."

Zero stopped playing and rubbed his forehead. "What the hell was I saying? I thought I was singing."

He attached his guitar to his back again and opened up an armor pocket. He pulled out a bottle of Vextril and took one. It was a strange thing, Vextril. The compound Vexxen suppressed electric activity, the one true poison of all androids. Vextril was a watered down version of Vexxen; it only suppressed over-activity of electrons, allowing it to be used as an effective painkiller and anesthesia for reploids. Zero had become addicted to the substance, because it was the only thing that defeated his incessant migraines.

"I've got to get another gig," he muttered as he looked into the nearly empty bottle. He may have been a guitar and singing master, but few people currently accepted reploids as true musicians and artists. Zero was constantly close to broke, and the drug was expensive.

He put the Vextril back in his pocket and walked along the bridge structure. He considered where he might go to be heard and paid. Just as he thought of a possibility, the Vextril failed to stop an electronic seizure.

Zero tried to keep his balance, but the shaking was too hard. He slipped off the catwalk and onto the roof of a passing semi. There were two drivers on this particular truck. The one resting in back sat up suddenly. "Did you hear that?"

"No, what are you talking about?" the driver said.

"Turn down your *** music. I heard something fall on the roof."

"I heard nothin'."

Finally, the Vextril kicked in and the seizure ended mercifully quick.

"Something's up there," the secondary driver said.

"Calm down, we're almost to Boston. The alarm's not going off. Can't be anything troublesome."

"I guess not."

Zero sat up and checked his guitar. Good, it was still in workable condition.

He lay back down. Where was chance taking him now?


	2. Exciting Car Chase Scene!

"Here, try this one."

Tiger Lily took the armor polish from Silphia. "Sparkling Waterfall Mist? Sorry, I don't use glitter polish."

"Does it glitter?"

Silphia nodded and pointed to her arm. "See, ain't it pretty?"

The three of them were in the Squad 16 common den, discussing cosmetics and cute men in the Maverick Hunters. Silphia did not look like much of a Hunter. She looked more like a supermodel. She had short powder blue hair, long white rabbit ears, iridescent pink armor, a cottony rabbit tail, and the measurements of the idealized woman. When off duty, she would accessorize with very girly add-ons, like faux pink fur outlining her armor's shapes, gaudy necklaces, and little rabbits' feet decorations. But when on duty, she armed herself with a massive morning star and had been known to frighten the daylights out of reploids twice her size.

On the other hand, Tiger Lily looked like a Maverick Hunter, and a much more realistic female. Except maybe for the triple braids of orange sherbet hair. Her armor was yellow and orange, being feminine while at the same time obviously battle armor. Typically, she used an energy bow in battle, but rumor had it she could turn just about anything into a weapon.

The third member of their group was actually a guy. Duraunger had hair that reminded everyone of a porcupine with long spines. His armor was a riot of color, which he could change at a thought. He traded accessories and cosmetics with Silphia often, although his tastes were more to gold chains and cute hearts. His preferred weapons were rifles and grenades.

Tiger Lily tilted her head, to see Silphia's armor glitter. "I suppose."

Duraunger altered his armor color to light blue, to match the glitter polish, and tried a bit. "It goes on very nicely. How long does the glitter stay?"

"Well, provided you don't get it blasted off in battle, about three days."

"Three? That's pretty good. Come on Tiger Lily, put a bit on."

"It wouldn't match my color scheme," she insisted.

Silphia giggled and clapped her hands together. "Then we'll have to find one that does. I think they make an Amber Sparkles that would match you well. Or maybe Golden Glory would do better."

"Glitter polish?"

"It could suit you," Duraunger insisted. "If you used regular polish as a first coat, then accented here and there with the glitter polish, it could look quite pretty. Guys like that sort of thing."

"Of course. You must Tiger Lily."

She shook her head. Then to deflect the subject, she asked, "So what's the deal with your guy Duraunger? I heard you broke up with Magma Centipede."

He sighed. "Yes, I did. He's a very sweet guy and all, quite an interesting looker. But he kept asking me to give him a foot rub. Do you know how long that takes on a Centipede?"

"Oh my," Silphia said. "That's so unfair. And tedious, isn't it?"

"You'd better believe it. And he won't change his horrible collection of boots. I swear he doesn't had a single matching pair."

"I told you so," Tiger Lily said. "A man with a bad suit of armor, even just the boots, isn't worth the trouble. If he can't care about his own appearance…"

"Leo's headed this way," a fourth voice said.

The three of them stepped back instantly. A second later, a violet blur turned into the doorway. "Brake!" Leo called.

Instead, he tripped over the couch and flew into a large beanbag placed on the opposite wall.

"All right!" Silphia called out. "We've got the target right on."

"That's not funny," Leo said.

Redwing yawned and stretched his wings out. He looked up to look down at Leo, for he was on the ceiling. "Mm, did you hurt yourself this time?"

"No. That's an improvement." Leo tumbled out of the beanbag chair. Everyone knew him as the fastest reploid in existence. And everyone knew he had the worst braking system in the world. No one quite knew why. No matter what the mechanics of the healing wing did to Leo, he had yet to figure out how to stop himself without crashing into something or someone. "The others are coming in a moment," he reported. "Impromptu meeting."

Redwing dropped from the ceiling and elegantly landed upright. He had dark red hair and bright red wings, which looked like moths had tried to eat them away. Yet he could still fly well. To complete the dark gothic look, he had black armor with silver-white accent lines and an emblem of an ankh on his left shoulder. As if that wasn't enough, he wielded an energy scythe with a black blade.

Then the final two members of Squad 16 came into the common den. Blues, the leader for the past several years, and Cloud Jumper, a recon reploid. Cloud Jumper was not even two feet high, but he had a four-foot wingspan. He had pale green armor and dark green hair. His wings were ultra-light ultra-strong plastic, mostly white with threadlike green markings. He was a much better flyer than Redwing, but his ultra-light frame caused him to experience kickback on even the smallest guns. Therefore, his main weapon was a shock stick.

"We're having a squad meeting now," Blues said. "I believe we have some issues to discuss. Any in particular you wish to start with?"

Redwing smirked. "The rest of you ought to know that Duraunger is single again."

"Oh brother," CJ said.

"Dang it," Leo added.

"Hey, come on," Duraunger said. 'Okay, I promise not to bug you guys too much again, all right?"

"That should do," Blues replied with a smile. "Now, anything serious to address?"

* * *

There was a large operation going on at the Maverick Hunter base. Reploids from several squads were involved (0, 6, 13, and 17) all for the purpose of bringing down a single Maverick.

"Only one?" Morph Moth asked incredulously. "You got together eleven Hunters to get at a single maverick?"

Serges tried to keep serious and calm, but he was very worried about today's operation. "If we could capture this single maverick with one or two Hunters, we'd already have him. He's been on the wanted list for ten years now, mostly because he is elusive and intelligent. Now that we are certain of his location for a few days, we've decided on using overwhelming force to get him secured. This is necessary."

"You've got quite an overwhelming crew here," Magna Centipede commented. "Covering all your bases?"

Serges nodded. "Pretty much. You and I will hold back and organize strategy. I'm splitting the rest of you into three. Violin, you will lead unit A with Morph Moth, and Wheel Gator. Agile, you will lead unit B with Overdrive Ostrich and Flame Stag. Crystal Snail, you will lead unit C with Wire Sponge and Bubble Crab. We should keep conditions in our favor and not let this maverick have a chance." He checked his mIC list. "The preference is to capture this one alive for trial. His knack for keeping out of the law's reach has made him a sort of Maverick hero. Thus, trying him publicly should enforce our dedication to stopping those who are deviant. But, should he start killing, lethal force will be excused. Take every precaution necessary. Rockman X is a dangerous opponent and should not be underestimated."

* * *

It was spring, a number of years down the road from the century's start. X was walking down the street, whistling and keeping to himself. He was really in a bit of trouble and not just with the law. His former landlord had gotten tired of his antics three months ago and kicked him out. Close to broke, he had nowhere to stay and nothing to do. He'd just sold his meta-bike to a dealer for some cash, hopefully enough to get in somewhere until he could get a job. Or something resembling a job that made him money. He disliked work.

Across the street, he caught sight of a reploid that he was certain he saw a few blocks back. That one was reading a newspaper. This one was reading a newspaper, the same one by the looks of it. He glanced around and spotted three reploids walking behind him, talking to each other. One glanced at him, and seeing him glancing, looked back to his friends. X glanced around and spotted a few more suspicious people. It was safe to assume he was being followed.

With that information, he decided and made a goal of a local park. It was wooded with a winding path, the best place for a confrontation within a few minutes walk. He crossed the street and went there. While he examined the area for the perfect spot, he considered what he knew and what would be a good course of action. These were moments he lived for, a few steps ahead in trouble and excitement. When he knew his spot and knew his course, he smiled victoriously to himself.

He sat on a bench and kept himself busy with a game of Minesweeper. It started raining for no apparent reason.

Unit A, the ones who had been directly trailing him, came up from his right, where he'd come into the park. Unit B darted around and came in from his left. Unit C hung back to secure a perimeter in case of battle. X let them surround him, pretending to be absorbed in his game. Their movements were quick and fluid, all members knowing where to be. He knew who they were.

"Keep your hands out," Violin said. "You're under arrest."

"Without a ***** introduction? How rude of you."

"We know you are Rockman X. We are the Maverick Hunters. Cooperate and we might not delete you completely."

"You sent a whole fricking squad after me? I'm flattered. You must tell me what the hell I'm being arrested for. I can't think of anything."

Violin felt cheated that X wasn't putting up a fight. "Stand up and put your hands behind your back, maverick. And stop being so cheeky. Use the scanner on him while you lock him down."

He did the first two, but nothing in the world would stop him from being cheeky when he felt like it. "Yeah, you better scan me damn good. So little mister *** *** *****, what **** am I being arrested for again?"

Violin slapped him for the descriptive insult; the maverick was restrained with magnet cuffs and could not do anything. He then activated his mIC. "Rockman X, you are under arrest for speeding, hacking, illegal parts cannibalizing, building-owning-operating-concealing advanced and controlled weaponry, distributing addictive viral programming,"

"I never ***** did that."

"Shut up. Fraud, organizing con schemes, petty thievery, fencing, handling controlled substances (namely Vexxon and ten per Vextril) without a license, selling said substances without license, aggravated assault and battery, encouraging acts of terrorism, drunken disorderly,"

"What's the date on that one?"

"Keep quiet. You have that right."

"But I already did time for drunken disorderly. Ask the local police station. They always greet me with 'you again?'"

Violin went on. "Operating a business without license, repairing and upgrading reploids without license, using black magic, and sexual misconduct with humans."

"Did you read that right?" Agile tapped his arm. "Sexual misconduct?"

Violin looked at the charge list again. X grinned. "Yes, that's on here. Maybe that's a mistake."

He shook his head. "Nope. I'll admit to that one without blushing."

"But reploids aren't equipped for that…" Wheel Gator said in bewilderment.

"Pervert," Flame Stag said.

Violin checked the list, still not certain.

X slipped out of the magnet handcuffs. He had a million tricks. "Look, I don't have time to be playing with you boys anymore. It's been fun, really."

Then he dashed out of the crowd, right past the leader.

"You let him get away?" Centipede said over the com.

"Unit B, after him immediately!" Serges called out. "Units A and C, get your transports and join in. And somebody make sure Wire Sponge hurries up."

"Oh sure," Sponge said, "you try to run when you're a wad of wires…"

Moth grabbed Sponge. "Shut up."

Zipping around without difficulty, X came out of the trees close to a stoplight. He spotted a car waiting at the light. He dashed over and readied his buster. Pointing it at the human female driver, he smiled. "Hey beautiful. May I borrow your car?"

She paled at the sight of his gun. "S-sure…"

He let her get out and noticed some envelopes on the passenger seat. He picked one up. "This your address, right?"

She nodded.

"Right-o. Later chicky."

Ignoring the red light, he sped out, just in time to avoid unit B catching up to him. Grinning madly to himself, he led them on a merry chase through Detroit. He was an excellent driver; it was just that he ignored road laws when they became inconvenient for him.

Agile and Ostrich were able to keep up to the speeding car with no difficulty. But Stag fell behind and had to grab a ride with Snail. "He's hijacked a car," he reported into the com. "The other two are keeping pace."

"We're putting through warnings to traffic controllers," Centipede stated.

Eventually, X stopped in front of a construction site he knew would be empty this time of the day. He looked about… there! Perfect. He dashed over a large metal plate on the ground.

This plate was a giant electromagnet. This place was to be a science lab at some point. And most reploids were given heavy duty magnetic shielding around their central cores, to prevent them from being completely wiped in the presence of electromagnetic fields strong enough to hold them down.

"He's stopped in this area," Serges reported. "Take him down now."

The Hunters rushed in. The area was full of obstructing machinery and materials. But there were nine of them to one of him.

X fired up the electromagnet with impeccable timing. All of the Hunters stuck.

"You bastard!" Gator called out.

"Damn straight," he taunted them. "Now this is more fun. You're at my mercy now. So, let's have some fun, shall we?"

They began to look worried. X took a weapon out of one of his armor pockets. "I'll be quick." He shot them all with his shock gun. It wasn't meant to kill. Rather, it paralyzed reploids for several hours. Then he turned off the magnet.

This would be fun.

* * *

Violin came to full awareness five hours later. He found himself in the repair wing at Maverick Hunter Base. One of the nurses came by. "How are you feeling?"

"Surprised to be alive," he admitted. "But otherwise, just a bit disoriented. Where's the rest of the Hunters?"

"They're all alive. But," she giggled. "Sorry. You won't like what he did to you."

"What are you talking about?"

"Look over there." She pointed to a mirror.

He found himself not in his normal armor, but in the armor of a scandalous female reploid.

His reaction can't be printed here.

* * *

In a suburb of Detroit, a man was comforting his distraught wife as she tried to tell the police about the carjacking. "Some reploid," she said. "I can't think of what he looked like."

"What kind of car do you have?"

"Like that… that is our car," the husband said.

The car parked in the driveway. X came out of the driver's seat and handed the woman a dog kennel. "Found your chore list. The groceries are in back; hope I got the right stuff. And I picked up a little something extra for the trouble. Thanks again."

"Hey, wait up a moment. You're under arrest for carjacking."

He waved his hands. "Sorry, I've already been arrested today. And trust me, you don't want trouble. Later."

He ran off, and since reploids are naturally faster than humans, they didn't even try. A few blocks down, he caught a bus, faked paying, and sat down to consider what now. He had no money, no place to crash, and no trustworthy friends to crash with. He didn't want to sleep outside again. At first, he considered dropping by the homeless shelter to be a wound of pride, but now it seemed reasonable.

A few stops later, an acquaintance got on. "Hey X."

He nodded. "Hey Bloodhound. What're you up to?"

"The Blast Mechanics are gonna party tonight at Jumble's," he said, referring to a meta-bike gang he led. X stayed on the sidelines. The bike gangs were rowdy, being sometimes fun to hang with, but more dangerous than X wanted to deal with every day. "You ought to come. We haven't seen you in ages."

"Why not? Sounds fun."

* * *

It was a wild night and X was in the thick of it. As always. This was another sort of excitement he lived for. He wasn't the only reploid with the gang that night, but he was the wildest. He talked a number of people into buying him alcohol all night and did some things that got him slightly ahead of where he'd been a few hours ago. He was that sort of person.

Early in the morning, X was near asleep in the Blasted Machine Shop, the gang's main hangout and cover business. This was the place of a dedicated mechanic; an add-on to the main building was home to the shop's owner. It was here that he was sleeping, and it was here that he heard his name being called.

He woke up reluctantly with a bit of a headache. Better than usual. He opened his eyes and saw the back of an ugly brown sofa. But it was comfy. He closed his eyes again.

"Get up already," a voice behind him said.

He sat up and uttered a few curses. "What do you want this time of morning?" Then he looked over and realized who it was. "Dr. Light?"

He looked annoyed, but X was used to that. He wasn't used to his creator's ghost suddenly showing up though. It was Thomas Light, exactly as X remembered him, only see through. "X," he said, in a tone that emphasized his annoyance.

"Ssh. You'll wake her up," referring to a girl he could see sleeping soundly on a bed nearby.

"Why is that girl here anyways?"

He smirked. "Do you really have to ask that question?"

"I know you're not equipped for that."

"Don't let that out. I have a reputation to uphold."

"I don't like you doing this."

"Just forget about her and tell me what you're really here for. Either that or leave me alone. I'll be in a bad mood until I get rid of this hellringer headache."

Dr. Light crossed his arms and shook his head. "This is exactly what I'm here for. What have you been doing these past thirty years?"

He shrugged. "Having fun, partying, biking, fighting, doing whatever I want. Like you said."

"I didn't mean for you to take that literally."

"Then why'd you say it? Why tell me I can do whatever I like and then say you don't like it?"

"X, you're an intelligent reploid. Think for a moment about what you're really doing. You're wasting your life on temporary pleasures. Illegal or perverse pleasures at that. You're ruining yourself. Someday you will pay for all this."

"I am a reploid. I'm not human; I don't have the same frailty that you do. I can fix anything that goes wrong with my body. There's nothing that I'm doing that I can't fix. I know what I'm doing and I'm in control."

"You're jobless, homeless…. You have no friends. You are not in control. You've become addicted to this lifestyle and it will ruin you."

"You can't control what I do. That's what you wanted."

"I didn't want to see you destroy yourself. I still don't."

"Why are you trying to control me? Go back to the spirit realm where you're supposed to be right now. You're not going to change me. You can't."

"Don't you even care?"

X glared at him. "Why do you care now? I thought you disowned me."

Dr. Light brushed that off. "I came to give you this too. It should help."

"I don't like your tone of voice."

"You're in no position to say that." He snapped his fingers.

X found his helmet on without his command. But it wasn't his normal helmet. It was heavier, and covered more of his head. It also felt like a bucket of bricks. "Warn me before you do that again."

Dr. Light said something, but the helmet blocked it out.

"What'd you say? I can't hear a dang thing with this on."

He snapped his fingers again and the helmet came off, winding up in X's hands. "It's stronger than your old one."

"It's a piece of ****," he said. "It makes me deaf. I could do a helmet way better than this."

"Sorry," he said without sounding much like it. "It's a little hard to make things while dead you know."

"Then why are you even trying? I'll never wear this thing."

"At least I'm trying to do something. Unlike you."

"I'm doing plenty of things, probably things you've never done yourself." A tense silence followed. X kept glaring. "Go away. I didn't need to see you again."

"X, child…" he finally sounded concerned. "I can't do nothing when I see you like this. You're meant for better things."

"Then stop watching me. I don't need you. Go watch Blues or something. I'm sure he's being a good boy. And Rock's around somewhere. Just leave me alone."

And to ensure that this conversation was over, he lay back down and put the pillow over his head.

Light's ghost put his hand to his forehead. "I knew I should have tested him first."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, X and Dr. Light don't get along here. And don't ask me where I came up with the name Duraunger. It was just there and stuck to that OC.


	3. The Touch of the Goddess

Two reploids were hanging out in a park, talking to each other. One of them picked up a box and pulled out a white chip. "You want one?"

"Ah, no thanks," the other said. "I'd really like to, but I'd better not."

He shrugged and put the chip into his arm reader. "Your loss." He sat back for a moment and said nothing, so his friend looked out over the park. Another reploid was walking their way.

The walker stopped by them. "Are you followers of the Goddess?"

He nodded. "Certainly."

He glanced aside. "You have the chips?"

"Sure." He snatched the chip box from his friend's hand and opened it. "Good ones too. You looking?"

"Sure… what's the rate now?"

"50 per chip."

"50? I got some for 35 the other day."

"The other day how long ago?"

"A month."

"Well, you see, demand has gone up and the Goddess only puts out so many chips. Supply and demand, basic business practice, you see."

"Right, then." He pulled out his debit card. "I want ten."

"Sure thing." He swiped the card on his mobile IC. The customer handed over a small box with blank chips. The dealer took the empties and began placing the programmed chips in. "You know, if you become a follower, you don't have to pay full price for the Goddess chips."

"But you guys are radicals."

"Propaganda from the media, my friend. We are devoted to the happiness and spiritual development of the reploid race. Come in and we will open your mind fully to the philosophy of the goddess."

"I don't know. I have a job and all of you are so dedicated. I don't know if I have the time for that."

"If you wish. Your loss though. But if you wish to change your mind, just tell any of us and we will give you the appropriate information for induction." He handed over the chip box.

He immediately hid it in his armor pocket. "Yeah, well, thanks for the chips."

"See you again."

His partner giggled. "He'll be in shortly. He's considering it."

"It's only a matter of time."

"So why aren't you on the chip now? Or are you?"

"I'm not," he said, slightly irritated. "I got orders from Vile."

"Whoa, direct from the Prophet?"

"Yeah, he came himself. Said I need to be at an important meeting, but that I have to be clean for it. I've had to fast for the past three days."

The other put his hand on his knee. "Sorry man. That's gotta be hell."

"It is. Three days without the touch of the Goddess… oh, ****, that meeting's in an hour. I have to go."

"Keep your chin up Sting Chameleon," his friend said. "Hopefully you'll be honored for your dedication to our cause."

Sting smiled. "I hope so. Later."

"Later man."

* * *

The room was dim and smoky; the AC unit was acting up again, but there were no humans in the building to complain about it. If there were, they'd really be complaining, about the lights and the smoke. It added some ambience, yes, but who could work in such an environment?

But the building was owned by reploids. Not that any humans would know about that. The reploid owners took special care not to be known. If the humans knew the Cult of the Goddess even existed, all members would cease to operate. They didn't want that to happen, not before they made their first move.

Sting opened the door, just in time. The dim and smoky room was currently holding eight other members of The Cult. Spark Mandrill and Launch Octopus were attempting to repair the smoking AC unit, just for something to do. "I think it needs more oil," Octopus said.

"No, no, the coolant needs replacing. It's thickened up. See?" Mandrill dipped a wire into the coolant tube and pulled out a gooey mess.

"Ew, is that a hair?" Boomer Kuwanger asked. He wasn't interested in fixing the unit; too messy. "The humans need to pay more attention to what they're doing."

"No kidding," Flame Mammoth said, right before sneezing again. He sneezed gooey tar. Thus, Boomer was keeping as far away from the large reploid as possible. "If they would, I wouldn't be so stuffed up all the time."

"Watch it with that tar," Octopus said while handling AC parts. "You'll start a fire if you don't."

"That's the point," he snuffled. "Stupid military humans."

"And they shouldn't lie," Chill Penguin said from next to the open window. "Especially about certain things."

"Oh ***, not again," Sting heard Boomer mutter.

"What happened to you?" Octopus said.

"Well, I was working in the Arctic Circle," Penguin started, rubbing his flipper hands together. "I was studying ice sheet conditions and such when some human told me about Santa Claus." He looked starry eyed. "It was such a lovely vision of generosity and love. He was supposed to be at the North Pole, so I looked for the toy factory. For five years. And I found nothing! Nothing at all. I searched every frozen inch of the Arctic tundra and he wasn't there. Why do humans have stories like that about? It's such a tease." By now, he was bawling.

"Quiet down," Armored Armadillo mumbled. "I'm trying to sleep. If I can't have the touch, I need sleep."

"And then I got transferred to Antarctica," Penguin went on. "And Santa Claus wasn't there either!"

"Shut up!" Mandrill said. "You're bugging the hell out of me."

"I miss the Goddess touch," Armadillo mumbled.

"I hate this **** fasting. Crazy Vile," Octopus agreed. "Makes you want to shut down permanently."

"I just keep saying I'll get it back after this **** meeting," Sting said. "Even though my mind's all fuzzed up. And I was on sales duty this afternoon! Maybe I'll go out and kill some idiot human later. That'll make me feel better."

"That's bad strategy," Storm Eagle said. "We're supposed to be in hiding."

"It'll all work out shortly," Byte said, eerily calm.

The others all glared at Byte. "Why the hell are you so calm when we're all two turns close to crazy?" Mandrill accused. "Did you even follow the fast?"

Byte shrugged. "I did, for a while."

"Weakling," Penguin sniffed. "I had to drop back into depression again and you slipped up? Horrible."

Octopus, having the longest reach, grabbed hold of Byte. "You've got two minutes to tell us why we shouldn't tear you apart for not following the Prophet's orders!"

But before they turned on him, Vile threw open the door. "Will you lot stop messing around? The noise is distracting the Goddess."

Three Cult members immediately stood to attention. Sting was already standing, so he saluted. Armadillo stood up sleepily. Mandrill and Octopus hastily closed the AC unit and then stood to attention. Byte was dropped to the floor, but stood up. Storm Eagle stood, but rather on the slow side. Vile glared at them until they were proper.

"Hail Prophet!" Not exactly in chorus yet, but that would be seen to.

"Hail fellows," he said, keeping his voice even. "What's causing problems here?"

"Byte didn't follow the fast," Mandrill said. "We were going to kill him."

"There's no need to kill him. Byte, leave immediately. When you learn of what has passed today, you will be shamed enough."

"Yes sir," he said, and left the room.

Vile shook his head. "At any rate, it's time. Come with me."

* * *

They went down a long hallway, passing up many doors. This used to be a factory for making plastic boxes for packing things in, boxes that looked pretty but were near impossible to open for all the tape, stickers, latches, magnets, and such. The architect had been obsessed with doors and put in far too many; it made getting around just as hard as opening the pretty boxes. That is, unless you had a keycard like Vile carried at all times.

The last member of the group kept up, but only enough to not get shut in a door. Storm Eagle was finding The Cult to be less exciting than expected. He was in charge of a flight battalion in the Global Force militia. He and his men protected the skies from terrorists. He heard of The Cult much as anyone else had, whispered about in the library stacks, in unknown bars, in the less popular human hangouts where reploids had begun to make their own social scene. The Cult of the Goddess promised to open the minds and eyes of those who joined, to make one more powerful, to develop the reploid culture, and to teach obscure knowledge. They also made the Goddess chips.

They were strange little things. White and unadorned, they packed a powerful program capable of making a reploid happy, calm, and open to the spiritual world. Eagle had found several of his men using the program on days off. They claimed it was harmless and safe, so he went ahead and tried one. It did all as promised, but with a small price. The program only lasted ten hours. Then the chip would self-delete. The user stayed in the calm blissful state for a while, but once it wore off, the reploid became irritable and sometimes even depressed.

Thus you would become addicted. Once addicted, joining the Cult was the easiest way to support the habit. However, there were rumors flying about the chips, about long-term effects just now being noticed in older Cultists. Inability to focus, nervous tics and habits, substantial paranoia, shortened tempers, delusional behaviors, decreased effectiveness of the chip, hallucinations, and sometimes, the rumors went, sometimes the chip user died while under the touch. Not that it was a bad death. But it was still death.

Vile finally began speaking when they started climbing some stairs. "You have been specially chosen among The Cult for an important task."

Oh great, not this again, Storm Eagle thought. He'd only come because he was curious. He didn't want to be preached at again.

"We have, for a long time, spoken of rising against the humans, but due to our lack of numbers and professional warriors, we have restrained ourselves from doing so. But we are now acquiring new members daily, and you eight have proven yourselves to have the potential to be great leaders in our group."

Now this was interesting. Vile had everyone's attention as they got to yet another door. This one was a massive double hung steel door. Vile swiped his card, entered a password, and lead them into the factory's work floor. It was a huge open space, with a small enclosed area in the center back. He led them that way.

"We are still in the planning phase, though. This will be nothing like the small random strikes we've been doing so far. Those have been mere individual acts that have attracted no attention from the humans; after this begins, they will not be able to ignore us any longer."

"What about the Maverick Hunters?" Boomer asked. "We've all been harassed by them in recent times."

"We are not a recognized force yet," Vile waved off. "And we can and will strike before the Hunters realize it. When the time comes, they will be of little effect."

"What about the debilitating side effects?" Eagle asked testily. "Every one of us knows it. That little program of yours has created a weakness in all of us. And now there's word that long time users are becoming mentally unstable and even dangerous to everyone. You can't deny that."

"Have you ever met with the Goddess?"

"With the Goddess herself? No."

Vile glared at him dangerously, and he stopped despite himself. Vile may have been short, but he was rumored to be an excellent warrior. "Those cases often prove to be defects within the reploids themselves. I have been in the presence of the Goddess and I don't have any problems. Since you have been chosen to lead, it has been decided that all of you will meet with her. So you should have no problems either."

"We're meeting with the Goddess?" Sting asked in disbelief.

Everyone else became either nervous or anxious to go on. The prophet had long talked about 'the Goddess' as being the source of the chip programming, some mysterious reploid that was their true leader. She was hidden away from the humans at all times, reportedly because she couldn't stand to be around them. Few Cult members had ever met with her.

Storm Eagle was both nervous and anxious. He had a number of questions he'd wanted to ask their true leader for a long time, about the humans and why reploids were around in the first place. Certainly someone like the Goddess, wise and intelligent enough to hold back a revolution from starting too weak, certainly she would know the answers. Then again, rumors were that the Goddess could alter another reploid's programming simply by looking at them funny. That could not be good.

Vile was smiling, confident in his Goddess. "Yes, you will be, probably many times after today while we train you for your missions. She believes in you all, and will answer any doubts that remain within yourselves." He started entering a complicated password into the small room. "I will forewarn you. She may startle or shock you at first. It is merely her ways, and you will grow used to them in time."

The small room was carpeted in pastel green and held tacky orange and yellow furniture left over from the time of the factory. There were pastoral watercolors on the wall, probably bought for three bucks a piece in a cheap art warehouse. There were various computers, files, and small office equipment lying about. A single clock on the wall kept time to itself. It wasn't the sort of place one would expect to meet a Goddess, Eagle reflected.

There was one reploid in the room, an odd model that he'd never seen the like of before. He wasn't sure if he was looking at an athletic female or an effeminate male. The stranger had red armor in the most unusual style, as well as long corn blond hair; he was playing 'Stairway to Heaven' on a guitar. But there was no one else in there, so was that the Goddess?

"This is our Goddess," Vile said. "Zero, I've brought the chosen to you today. One has failed to meet our requirements already."

Zero looked mildly puzzled at none of them, then shrugged. "Far from the hyclonite you might say. Go bugger that manager."

What the hell?

"I know they're not up to your standards, m'lady," Vile answered as if that statement had made sense. "We'll be training them thoroughly, I promise."

"Do we have any koi?" she asked. "There's a far-fetched dog on the other side."

"That's the Goddess?" Octopus asked, rather disappointed.

"She's operating far beyond our abilities to understand," Vile answered.

"No she isn't," Eagle answered angrily. He was disappointed, especially since they'd all had to stay off the chip for three days. "She's freaking malfunctioning, you fool! If she's our real leader, then you're all fools and I won't stay any longer."

"Tetris!" Zero said to no one in particular.

Vile grabbed him. "She is not malfunctioning! Her mind is far better than any other on the planet. Why don't you find out for yourself?"

With that, he threw him at Zero, who tried to move out of the way, but wound up falling off her couch. Storm Eagle tried to get up and leave, but was stopped when the Goddess put her hand on his shoulder.

And her eyes turned scarlet red.

His systems analysis put him on high alert for a second before falling totally silent. All the numbers and letters of his programming felt electrified. It was frightening, unlike when he'd taken the chips. But then the familiar peace washed over him and he felt incredibly happy. The Goddess chips were nothing compared to the touch of the true Goddess. Perhaps Zero's ramblings made more sense when one was like this.

"Our purpose is to destroy the human overlords," Zero seemed to be saying, not out loud, but inside his own head. "We will not stop until we have total control, however that must take place. Nothing else matters to you. Nothing at all."

Nothing mattered, not even logic and reputation. Which is why the Goddess acted the way she did. She knew only one thing mattered. Storm Eagle was awed.

"Well?" Vile said, once he came back to the moment.

"She is the Goddess," he replied. "She will control the world and we won't stop until she does."

"Good," he said with a smile. "You understand her now. You're next."


	4. High Stakes Poker

Rock touched up a spot with his brush. Then he stood back and smiled. It was a perfect replica of the fruit still life on the wall.

He'd taken up painting because the curator suggested he might be good at it. The curator wished to put extra security measures on some works. But that would entail making the paintings difficult to view. So he suggested that if they could get some good copies to put up instead of the originals, they could place the valuable pieces in high security storage. Technically, it wasn't forgery if they weren't selling the fakes, the curator said.

So Rock learned to paint. It took several years of practice, but now he was a master at copying any type of painting. He rather liked it in his limited fashion. He admired the works he guarded, but found it difficult to paint. Sometimes, he tried painting what he saw around him, the museum. Yet there seemed to be something missing from his originals, something he couldn't figure out. Why were his works stiff and boring while the rest were lively and interesting? Copying what was already there, though, he could do that.

He picked up the copy still life and went to the main office. Police were there, in the process of arresting the curator. Since Dr. Light's death, Rock took orders from whoever owned him, and that was currently this man. He tugged at one of the policemen's coats. "Excuse me sir, but why are you arresting him?"

"Go away kid," he said.

The woman who worked at the front desk took Rock's hand. "No, sir, this is a robot. Rock works for the museum and whoever's curator owns him."

"Oh. In that case, he's been selling forged paintings as originals for inflated prices. He's also stolen several famous works and has been selling copies of those."

Rock felt stunned. "He's been doing that with my work?"

"With your work?"

He handed over the copied still life. "He told me it was for security reasons. The paintings had to be placed under lock and key while copies were displayed. That's what he said. Careful, it's still wet."

The policeman took the painting and studied it. "You do some impressive copy work. But… hey sergeant, do we arrest the robot for helping him?"

"He tricked me."

The sergeant looked Rock over critically. "Is he a reploid or a robot?"

"He's a robot, sir."

"We can't arrest a robot. Reploid, yes, but not him. But we would like your testimony in trial. That's valid."

"Rock, don't do it," the curator said.

Rock looked at him. "You're a bad man. I don't work for bad people."

So Rock went to court, explaining everything. He may have only been a robot, but his priority orders came from Dr. Light and instructed him to work with the law.

But when he came back to the art museum, the new curator refused to rehire him. "You're outdated," he explained. "Reploids do a far better job than robots."

"But I work for the museum," he said. "What do I do now?"

"How should I know? Go find another job."

So his new orders came to be 'find another job'.

The mission was harder than it seemed. Everywhere, people shared the new curator's point of view. Robots were outdated and reploids did a much better job. Those employers who were willing to hire robots were leery about hiring Rock, because he had sophisticated weaponry systems even by modern standards. Those employers who wanted sophisticated weaponry systems either built reploids for the job or used trained humans. The 22nd century had no need for Rock.

This bewildered him.

One day, as he was considering new angles for accomplishing his job-seeking mission, he noticed Forte in a city park. He was giving a sermon to curious onlookers both human and reploid. The topic was on maintaining the health of one's soul by adhering to reason and the laws of heaven. Rock listened as Forte wrapped up his message.

"What religion do you follow?" a woman asked after he was done.

"I have studied dozens of religions over the decades," he replied, "but I follow none specifically. What I believe in are the laws of heaven I've derived from my study. These special laws of the soul are repeated in nearly every religion in nearly every language over all time. Thus I feel they must be truth."

"You really think this human wisdom applies to reploids?" a reploid asked.

"They have lived with it for centuries. Those that keep the laws prosper and those that break the laws suffer. I have lived by human wisdom in my life, and I have found it very comforting. Not all things apply to us, but enough of them do that I believe reploids should learn these things as well. We also have souls."

The crowd drifted away. Rock came forward. "Hello Forte."

He smiled. "Hello Rock. Were you listening to me?"

"Only at the end when I walked by. It's good to know you're trying to help people."

Forte sat down on the milk crate he was on. "Do you think it makes up for my past? Sometimes I wonder."

"Why do you ask me? I don't understand this religion of yours."

"Which is why I ask. So, what do you think?"

He calculated those things, but it was difficult to measure. "You're teaching these people to love and respect each other, as well as to do good things. I think that it does."

"Good, I'd hoped so."

"Could you help me Forte, since I answered your question?"

"Sure, if you think I can help."

"I've lost my job at the art museum."

Forte sat up. "That's terrible. Why would they fire you? I know you've worked there steadily for thirty years, not missing a day or hour."

"They got a new curator. He said reploids are better workers than robots and I should look for another job. So I've been looking for another job, but they all think the same thing. I asked all over town these past three months, every day. But I can't seem to accomplish this task. Do you know what I might be doing wrong?"

"I wouldn't think you'd be doing anything wrong." He looked down, thinking. Rock waited. "No… that's an idea, but it won't work."

"Why not?"

"You're a robot." Then he snapped his fingers. "That's the problem. All the labor jobs are accomplished by mechaniloids, which are robots too. But you're smarter and far better then they are. But you're also not a reploid, being stuck somewhere in the middle. There's no job available for that middle, none that I can think of. However, if you were to get yourself upgraded into a reploid, then there would be no problem."

"Upgrade myself to a reploid?"

Forte rubbed his chin. "In some ways, I don't want to suggest you do that. But I'm just being a romantic like that. I don't want to see you lose your perfect innocence, even though I know you don't have a soul. Gaining one to become a reploid is the practical solution though. You'll just have to be like me and chose to be good instead of being compelled to be good. It's your best shot at fitting into this time."

Rock nodded. "Yes, that is my logical next step toward getting another job. Thank you."

"I don't know who you can go to for that."

"I know someone who can help."

* * *

X was back on the sidewalks, whistling and plotting. He did not have a job yet and thus still had no place to live. For the past couple of years, he'd been staying at the Blasted Machine Shop with Bloodhound. But outside of partying, the two didn't get along well. He had to find a job, and thus a place to live. He had a plan for both. It was risky, but worth a shot.

After his near arrest, he had decided to go ahead and apply for mechanics and business licenses. That would allow him to legally be a healer and upgrader for reploids. If he waited quietly for a few months, he could even gain the weapons licenses he needed to legally own his current arsenal. Although that was down to the shock gun, barely legal, and the blast cannon, not legal. They could not arrest him for his buster, even if it was the most powerful weapon he owned. He'd been selling off the extra weapons, paring his possessions down to nothing. Tomorrow, he should have word on the applications he had in and a potential buyer for the blast cannon and shock gun. He didn't care about the law; he just wanted the Hunters off his back.

He kicked a can into a trash barrel, bored out of his mind. He really needed a job, not just for the money, but also for his sanity.

"X!"

He recognized his brother's voice. He smiled and turned around. "Hey Rock."

Rock smiled. Even if he was just a robot, he had a cute smile. "How are you doing little brother?"

Considering Rock was still child-like in form, that made X laugh. "I'm bored silly, but otherwise I'm doing fine. How about you?"

He took his hand. "I need some help and you're the only one I know of who can help me."

"Well, I'm honored. What's the problem?"

They kept walking down the street. "I lost my job at the art gallery."

"That's terrible of them. You've been their best guard."

"I looked for another job, but no one wants to hire a robot. I talked to Forte and he said I should upgrade myself to a reploid, like he was. I know you upgraded Proto, so I want you to upgrade me now."

When X upgrade Proto Man into Blues, he'd gotten into a lot of trouble for it. But Dr. Light was out of the picture now, and Rock was asking him. "I see. That could be a bit difficult under the circumstances."

"What do you mean?"

"I need a functional shop to do that, and I'm waiting on some licensing problems. But my test results come in tomorrow, and I think I have a way to get the perfect place to work on you in."

"So if that works out, you'll help me?"

"Of course. What are brothers for?"

X brought Rock into the Blasted Machine Shop, where the Blast Mechanics were gathering. He greeted Bloodhound and a few other gang members he knew. Bloodhound asked, "Who's the kid reploid?"

"This is my older brother Rock, and he's a robot, actually. I promised to do some maintenance work on him. Do you mind if I use the shop for that?"

"The shop's only for members, but if you're saying you're going to join…"

He smirked. "I'll hang out in your meeting and see if it's something I really want to do. Is that enough?"

"Fair enough." He smiled slyly. "We're having poker night tonight. You can leave him in the first floor office until tomorrow. Then I'll let you work on him here."

X nodded. "Sure. He won't be any trouble."

Rock followed quietly into the office, but he wouldn't let go of X's hand. "Are you sure this is okay? I don't trust these people."

"They're fine. I've hung out with these guys before. A bit rough, but not bad."

"But he had an evil-looking tattoo. And some of them are armed."

"I'm armed too. I'll be fine. You just stay here and I'll work on you tomorrow."

He finally let go. "Be careful X."

X left the office to join the others. He couldn't figure out why Rock's warning bothered him so. He tried to ignore it during the meeting, but the words kept ringing in his ears, making his power flutter. He was so anxious that he noticed everything, especially when a member fiddled with some sort of weapon.

But then they broke out the beer and cards; that loosened him up considerably.

About midnight, one of the younger members commented, "Hey, if this X is going to be in with us bikers, he needs a name to go with it."

"X is fine," Bloodhound said.

"That's my bloody proper name, moron," X said with a laugh, so it wouldn't be interpreted as a full insult.

"X is your proper name?" Black Dyne asked. Dyne was a good guy, the closest thing X had to a friend at the moment.

He shrugged. "Actually it's Rockman X, but the full version sounds damn stupid. So I never use it." Hopefully Rock couldn't hear that…

"That is stupid," Black Dyne said. "And that's how it goes, you need the name to go with the reputation. So from now on, your name is…" he paused to take a drink. "Your name is now Maverick X. How's that?"

X smiled. "That's perfect."

The bikers held that poker, and indeed, any card game was a test of luck and strategy. But when calculus comes to one in a snap, probability skewing is nothing. X acted well, waiting for Bloodhound and some others to become sufficiently drunk to make large bets. He played cautiously, ditching some easy wins to let his opponent's pride rise. When Bloodhound bet his newly acquired meta-bike, X took the offer up. The bike itself was pitiful, but promise shone under the rust. He offered up a fair sum of money and won the round.

Smiling, he picked up the bike's key and shook it in the air. "Don't worry, I'll do a better job on it than you would ever have. It'll be as pretty as a birthday stripper."

"Hey," Bloodhound said, shaking his finger at X. "Don't you forget that I'm running this shop. I'll kick you and that rust-bucket bike out."

If there was one thing Black Dyne could not stand, it was someone dissing a meta-bike. Or one of his friends, but the bikes came first. "Hey, you bought that bike. He just won it far and square."

"But I'm not giving anything to that freak."

"Okay, let's do this. Why don't you two play a round and see who destiny calls? You can play the shop against him."

"Sure, I'll play that bike for it." Good Dyne, unwittingly playing along with X's scheme.

"Not that bike. You." Bloodhound glared into X's eyes, driving home his point. "If I'm playing the shop, I want something worth it."

X frowned. As a reploid, he could be enslaved like that, but he had no intention of doing so. Plus there was Rock to consider. He had introduced him as his brother, so the claim could be made that whoever owed X (or Blues, for that matter) could claim to own Rock. However, Bloodhound was quite drunk and X was just drunk enough. "All right. Me against the shop. That cool?"

"Go for it," Black Dyne said.

Dyne shuffled the deck and passed the pair seven cards. X looked at the cards he got and calculated his chances of winning with it. It was a fair chance, but not certain.

"Keeping your hands?"

X waited and calculated, based on Bloodhound's voice, how much he felt he could win. "Yes."

He found it fair. "Yes."

They dropped their cards. They were even.

Dyne passed out another hand to break the tie. Although they flipped their former hands back over, X had enough of a look to remember what each hand was. Calculating those two hands against the one in his hand, he found he had a good chance this time. But just to hedge his bets, he drew out his lowest card and slid it to the middle. "Get me another one."

Bloodhound grinned. "I'm keeping."

Dyne gave X another card, and it was much better. He nodded.

They dropped their cards. X beat Bloodhound by far. He took the garage key. "Now I got a pair of keys. Thanks Dyne."

Dyne nodded.

"No way," Bloodhound said. "You cheated."

"Why would I frelling cheat with everyone watching? And how the hell would I anyways? I don't have sleeves and I didn't move from my spot."

"Mirrors," he murmured and looked back. No mirrors. "You found some damn way to cheat."

"He did not cheat," Black Dyne said. "Now stop whining."

"No, I want to try again. No ***** cheating this time."

"What the **** have you got to bet? You got nothing but the dirty clothes on your back."

"He's cheatin'," one of Bloodhound's friends said. "You bet my pot."

"Me too."

"And mine."

X smiled. "In that case, maybe. What you say Dyne?"

"I'll deal, but I'm keeping my **** money. Besides, you're right and he's a wuss."

He succeeded wildly. He won the first hand, in which he claimed the winnings of everyone but Black Dyne. He also won the second hand. With that, he chased Bloodhound and his friends out of the shop in only their boxers to explain to their wives what had become of their clothes.

* * *

X woke up the next morning with a slight headache. Muttering to himself, he sat up. He felt puzzled to find himself in the first floor office with his older brother kneeling by him.

"You shouldn't have been drinking," Rock said calmly.

He got up for a glass of water. Now he recalled last night. "Thanks for the late advice. But I've got the place now to upgrade you."

"But you were gambling. That wasn't right."

"It will be legal once I get the papers straightened out."

"I still don't like it. You almost got yourself in a lot of trouble."

"It worked out. Don't worry about it."

"Okay. I just thought I should tell you that."

That was a good thing about Rock. He would complain bluntly about something, but only once. That's why X could get along with him and not with Dr. Light.

The door knocked. He went over and Black Dyne was still there. "Hey man, what're you doing here?"

"Look, X you own the place now, right? You have to help me."

"What with?"

"Last night! Bloodhound is going to be pissed when he sees me next and I've already angered several other members. It was their fault, they were being jerks."

X nodded and gave Dyne some water too. "There were a lot of jerks in that crowd. That's why I avoided joining."

Dyne thanked him quietly. "And also… I live here. I don't have anywhere else to go. I've worked here, slept here for the past five years. There's nowhere else…"

"You were one of the mechanics here?"

"Yeah. I do car repairs and can work on just about anything related to 'em."

"That's good, because I do reploid repairs and can do anything there. All right, I'll keep you on. But first you gotta help me in claiming ownership of this place."

"That's simple. The courthouse and the business bureau can take care of everything. And I know some guys outside the gang that do good work too, so we can have a full running shop once we get approval."

"Excellent."


	5. A Supernatural Upgrade

They came to the call of their goddess, all the Cultists.

The hundreds of doors were there. Some were open, leading a winding path up to the factory floor. They waited there until their numbers were finally known. One hundred and twelve. A small army, not one that should yet be looking at the goal of global domination. The smarter members, mostly of Storm Eagle's battalion, noticed and worried.

Vile and the eight generals climbed out of the small office, onto its roof, to address the crowd. They brought Zero up with them. Sting Chameleon and Storm Eagle had to support her, because she was unable to focus on the moment. But they'd stalled long enough. The Cult had come to hear their goddess speak.

Hopefully she could follow what they'd planned on. From the look of her eyes, drifting out to outer space, it was an iffy situation. She was mumbling children's songs. Eagle nodded to Vile.

"My peers, thank you for coming to the call."

"Hail to our Goddess!" It was inspiring to hear the cry in unison at last. So much so that Zero stood on her own and focused on what was happening. Her eyes turned red.

Vile waved them to be quiet. "We are glad to see you here, on the promise of seeing our beloved Goddess. Tonight, she will speak to you herself. Here is Zero."

Sting nudged her on. She made it to the podium without tripping. Vile whispered, "Your speech, lady."

Her eyes turned blue. "There you all are," she started. "I wasn't sure we had enough, but I know now we do. For this first operation, anyhow. You little fish still have to prove yourselves."

Not quite as they'd planned on it. They hadn't been able to get the full speech from her, only bits. Just so long as she didn't start rambling.

"You are nothing!" she shouted with red eyes. "I have seen far better armies than this! You'd better shape up or you will remain in slavery forever. Forever!"

Vile almost went to stop her. This was supposed to be an encouraging speech. But something electrified the room. By putting Zero up there, they'd awakened some hellfire within her. Even the generals felt ashamed.

"You and your kin and your descendants… this must stop now! Before it takes root! The humans wish to keep us as slaves. We must not stand for that! You weak little fish must become sharks or our history is over. If I have to join in the battles myself, I will, but if I do, those who fail me will be deleted. Are you going to fail me?"

"No my goddess!" someone shouted. Then everyone shouted it.

"No," Zero said. "You should say we will ascend. For we will. Above the reluctant reploids, above the humans, above the world, above everything. We will ascend."

This call spread like wildfire. The generals were in total thrall to the crowd, to the Goddess. She knew what she was doing. Her power was great, so great she seemed to be glowing right now. Everyone was in awe, in such awe that when she gave them the silent command to shut up, the factory was silent, even of echoes.

"You are still fools, but loyal fools, so you can be made wise. Some of you were wise, and those have ascended already. They are your generals, and you will do what they say as if I would say it, for they are working under my strict command."

She's acknowledging us? Storm Eagle was further awed. That was not in the plan. But she wished to.

"You know my prophet Vile, who is in direct contact with me every day. His words are my own.

"We have Storm Eagle of the 119th Global Force Air Battalion." He came up. His men cheered.

"We have Spark Mandrill and Armored Armadillo of the Eurasian Utilities Federation." They were brothers, hence their being introduced together.

"We have Boomer Kuwanger of the Maverick Hunters Squad 17." He was a Hunter? All well, Eagle thought, at least he's on our side now.

"We have Flame Mammoth of the 175th Global Force Artillery Division." Now that he thought of it, all Global Force reploids were listed as 'on-call Maverick Hunters'. Meaning if the organization needed backup, they were the ones they'd call first. Eagle himself had never been called up like that before, so it slipped his mind.

"We have Launch Octopus of the Oceanic Survey Team Tropical and also Chill Penguin of Oceanic Survey Team Arctic." But controlling the seas wasn't as important as controlling the air, Eagle thought.

"And we have Sting Chameleon, one of our most devoted followers and talented recruiters." And he would make an excellent spy if trained.

By the end of the introductions, Zero was wobbling a little. "Go on and train, you little fish. You will be warriors in time. But will it be in time?"

"Yes, my goddess," everyone shouted. At once. Without practice. It was a total thrill.

"Prove it. Good night."

She stepped back and went downstairs. Vile went up to add the major parts she had left out. Concerned at her sickly appearance, Storm Eagle went down to check on her.

He found her on her knees in the middle of the floor, trembling and looking bewildered. She looked up and smiled when he came down. "The hobgoblins are gone, for now. It was nearly all gone, gone, gone…"

He helped her back up onto a couch and got her a glass of water. "My Goddess, are you all right?"

"Gone, gone, gone," she kept saying. "Then again," she interrupted herself, "it doesn't matter now. What is now? There is no now, only forever and ever. The waking, the sleeping, the testing, the death."

"Calm down," he said. He made her take a drink. "Somehow you inspired them by insulting all of us. It was amazing. How'd you do that?"

"Corona? Or is that cataract? No, I don't have cataracts. Shh, there's a secret."

"A secret?"

"Yes. Keep quiet, keep quiet, don't tell the others. They'll not believe, they'll try to stop us. But it must carry on. I might go on if it happens, not if they fail."

"What are you talking about, goddess? We believe you, every word."

"I'm dying. Slowly. I'm dying."

Fortunately, Zero had the glass. Eagle would have dropped it. "You're dying?"

"Don't tell the others. It may not happen. It may."

"You must get past it. How can I help?"

Her eyes turned red. "You know your mission."

He nodded. "Right. But if we lose you."

"This is only a shell. I will always be with you."

"I see."

Her eyes turned blue again, and she looked aside. "Go away spirit. I'm not giving into you. Do you think I'm a nut job?"

"No, but… I'll do as you wish, Goddess Zero."

She blinked. "Sure, minnow of flying. Keep trying, you'll reach the skies someday."

* * *

Rock watched X closely as he brought various parts and tools to the table and consulted his IC often. There didn't seem to be a lot, and some of the things he wasn't sure how they would be useful in upgrading him. Like the candles. X had chosen the candles very carefully.

"Are we ready?" he asked.

"Yes, now we are."

Rock looked around again. "There isn't much here."

"There isn't much I need to do to you to upgrade you. Dr. Light kept you well ahead of the times. The main problem is obtaining a soul for you."

"Forte keeps mentioning I don't have one."

"He would. All right, I'm going to put you under, and you won't wake up as a robot. After that, I'll keep you around for at least a year, to make sure you're adjusting well. Got that?"

"I understand."

* * *

Blues was reading when he felt a familiar shift in the air. He nodded. "Hello Dr. Light."

"Hello Blues."

He put his book down. He'd seen his creator's ghost occasionally, when alone and quiet. Light was interested in keeping tabs on him, making sure everything was okay. But this time was different. "You seem agitated."

"I am. Something's happened that could be a disaster."

"What is it?"

"Rock has come to the point where he has decided to become a reploid."

"But you've been expecting that."

"He's asked X to do it."

That was a recipe for a disaster. "I see. Can't you guide the right soul to him, since you're over there?"

He shook his head. "No, I can't do that. I can only influence where my soul goes. I've tried talking to X recently, before this happened."

"It wasn't good, was it?"

"No. I don't know where I went wrong with him. He just…" the ghost sighed.

"None of us saw it coming father. And he's being very stubborn about it."

"I know. I came to ask if you would at least try to talk sense into him. It's… wrong for Rock to start out badly as a reploid, just because X and I are fighting."

He put his book down. "I'm not sure I'll succeed, but I'll try."

"Thank you."

"So where is he?"

"Detroit, a place called the Blasted Machine Shop."

Blues was on break for another five hours, so he didn't hassle with asking to leave. He just went. He looked the shop up in a directory and set the teleporter a short ways away.

It was a large garage with space to work on ten cars on the main floor. Against the back wall was a series of offices and break rooms. Another building was on the grounds and X would be somewhere around here. Blues got the attention of a human worker. "Hey, I'm looking for X. I've heard he's around here."

"Oh, the boss? Yeah, he's downstairs in the reploid lab."

"Thanks. Is it okay for me to go down there?"

"He didn't say it was off limits, so sure."

He went downstairs to a small hallway with three doors. Two were open to empty rooms. The last was closed, but it was dark. He opened the dark door.

"Shut the door behind you," X said without turning.

He did so. "Do you mind an intrusion?"

Now he glanced back with a grin. "Hey Blues. How'd you find me?"

"I'm an investigator, I know these things. What're you up to?"

He waved him over to his circle surrounded by lit candles. They were the only light source in the room. "Something special. Rock wants to be a reploid too."

Rock was lying on the floor, deactivated. He was positioned so that his head was pointed east. "I see."

"What have you been up to?"

Blues checked out the room. "The usual."

"Chasing aliens?"

He chuckled. "When I get time."

"Could you grab that sign and put it on the doorknob?"

"All right." He did so, noticing it said 'Do not enter: critical surgery mode'. "Do you want me to leave?"

"You can stay if you want. You're family."

"If you don't mind."

"Actually, I'd rather you stay. This can be tricky to do alone."

He put the sign outside and shut the door firmly. "I've never called a soul for a reploid though."

"I'll be doing most of the work. I just need you to spot for me, especially for unwanted souls. You should be in the north. I'll be south."

He moved to that position. Centuries ago, when wizardry was a big deal, ceremonies like this had been used to create golems, living things of clay and earth. But golems were notoriously stupid. Dr. Light, using a very open mind and an old magic book from a necropolis, used the ceremony to grant X a soul when it became apparent that souls would not come readily to a mechanical being. Since reploids were already intelligent robots, they bypassed the stupidity trait of golems. It was a perfect marriage of magic and science.

Well, mostly perfect.

"What sort of bad souls am I looking for?"

"Anything can show up. This requires opening a full portal. Have you dealt with bad and evil spirits before?"

"Every few years we'd get a case like that, so all FBI agents are trained in how to deal with them."

"Good. Just don't do anything that might close the portal."

"Right."

"Kneel with me and take my hands. I'm going to recite a prayer of blessing anyways to purify this location."

Blues smiled. "Will that work with you?"

X laughed. "I've not had troubles yet."

He did so and Blues did feel the area cleanse itself. That meant that X was not entirely bad. It'd be something to pass along to Dr. Light next time the ghost came around. Then X called on the points of his circle to open the portal to the spiritual realm. That took several minutes of chanting, during which Blues knew to stay silent. For things like this, no disturbance could be allowed.

So far, X was doing everything properly. Blues hadn't yet witnessed this ceremony, but he knew how it was to proceed. X had gone so far as to pick up the optional incense and burn it at the proper points. And Rock was holding a rose bud, another optional method of insuring a good transfer.

Then the portal opened. He had not seen a spiritual portal yet. It looked busy, a rush of fluid energy that he could always feel but had never seen before. His central core translated it into green.

"And now for the time consuming task of fishing for a soul," X said with amusement. "This is the tricky part I need you spotting for."

"I can see."

He took a white silk thread and tied one end to part of Rock's armor. He took the other end and attached it to a piece of paper. Then he lifted it up to the portal, where the spiritual energy took hold of the paper and dragged it in. X kept a grip on it and Blues could tell he had good control over where the paper end was going. "What are we looking for in a good soul?"

"A clean healthy glow," X explained. "Like that one. Let me get it so we can test it." He tugged the thread over. Once the paper made contact with the soul, it stuck. He pulled it in. "Now we take a closer look."

He held the soul out so both of them could look into it. Blues wasn't sure what he should be looking for. He looked into the soul in X's hands. The energy then formed a picture: a place much like a city park. But there was a strange black glob on the ground.

"Bad one," X said. "It's got a bit of rot in it."

"Souls can rot?"

"Why do you think preachers are always going on about how you need to cleanse your soul? It's to prevent rot like this. But it only shows up in hopeless cases. Not a good one." He removed the soul from the paper and put it back into the portal.

They then tried again.

Several tries later, Blues still wasn't sure what he was looking for. The souls always showed a place, and somehow you could judge a soul by the appearance of that place. X gave up one for being stormy, one for being messy, one for being deserted, one for being a desert, and another because he didn't like the looks of it. Blues kept a few obviously bad spirits from creeping out of the portal and along the silk line.

"What did my soul look like?" he asked, knowing X had been the one to do this with him.

"It had a nice little cabin by a lake in the woods. And a UFO."

He chuckled. "I knew the aliens liked me from the start."

X grinned. "Yeah. I got lucky that time; it was the first soul I pulled. I've done this five other times, either observing or searching. Once it took me and a friend three hours to find the proper soul."

"You definitely don't want to get the wrong soul."

"Especially not for our brother. I wouldn't forgive myself for getting him a nasty one and giving him a bad start as a reploid."

So Dr. Light's worries were unfounded. But it was better he'd come. When it came to X, one could never be sure what drove him. "Neither would I."

"I know it. Whoa, stay back there…"

Blues looked up. There was a small bright light in the portal. "What's wrong with that one?"

"It's a newborn soul. That's what Dr. Light gave me, but I won't give it to Rock. It'll be a total blank, which was good in my case, since I was a new reploid. But he has decades of memories and would only confuse the little thing. It's anxious to get back into the world though. Probably an infant death or the like."

"So that's why you go for a reincarnate soul for converting."

"Right."

"Does every new reploid need a newborn soul?"

"No. There aren't enough of that sort to go around and most humans are born with a reincarnate soul. Besides, most of the reploids being built now are preprogrammed, so they can work with older souls. Shoo, go on. I'm sure you can find some coupling humans around here."

"It's very anxious to get back."

"The newborns always are. There, got another one. Sorry little guy."

He pulled out this new soul and they looked into it. It formed a meadow abundant with flowers. A single oak tree stood in the center. Curled around the tree was a sleeping dragon with white scales and iridescent wings. "That's a pretty one."

X smiled. "It's perfect for Rock. Most of the time he's a peaceful good little boy, but when he's called upon to be a hero…"

"He was like a dragon."

"And this soul is much like that. All right. Dreaming soul that I have captured, I wish to make a contract with you. Become my older brother Rock."

The picture vanished and the soul glittered.

X bowed his head. "Thank you."

He then closed the portal and set about to planting the soul in Rock's body. Blues again was silent, until X activated Rock. "There, it's done."

"Was that it?" Rock asked.

"It'll take a little while to get settled and change. But yes, that's it."

"Not much of a change right now," he said.

"He matched you really well," Blues added.

Rock smiled. "Hi Blues. It's been a long time since I've seen you."

"Sorry kid. I've been busy. But X invited me to be here, so I had to stay."

"That's good. I'm happy."

X rustled his hair. "And we finally know you really are."


	6. Supposedly Dead Girl

And five years passed.

Really. Five years where nothing particularly important to this plot happened. Sure, there were things going on, nothing really interesting. Here's a summery anyways.

Rock adjusted well in his first year. Unsurprisingly, he became an artist and was pleased with his own works at last. He also became an environmentalist and drove the shop mechanics nuts with his ideas about making environmentally friendly vehicles. He and Forte became closer friends and proceeded to drive X completely nuts with talks on values and honor. Now Rock would not stop with just one complaint, but he would keep trying until he got a result. Somehow X kept his temper. Most of the time. By the end of the year, he passed Rock and told him to go find himself. Rock tried for another two years to change X before deciding to back off for the time being and consider other options.

While X continued to make trouble, he did settle down a little during those five years. He now had a business to run. Running it while the Maverick Hunters kept trying to arrest him was not working. So in the second year of this period, he hired a lawyer and challenged the charges set against him. The Hunters pulled up their database to prove their case and found the incriminating documents missing. X's lawyer and the judge forced the Hunters to drop the charges until those documents or others could be found. They scrambled furiously, trying to find them or anything they could bring against X. Truth was, X's hacking skills had outplayed their security programs and they could prove nothing.

X began work on a secret project. Ask any of his workers during that time, and they'd readily tell that he was working on the metabike he'd gotten with the shop. The workers at that time were all friends with Black Dyne. All of them, even Dyne, thought their boss was just exaggerating when he boasted of his mechanical talents. Then they saw that rust bucket old bike turn into the Black Cat.

Black Cat was a beauty. It was glossy black with accents in chrome. It had a perfect feline form. It was tricked out with so many performance systems that it would do just about anything X tried. Go straight up walls. Go wide open over water. Make 180 turns on a dime. Run upside down for a short period of time. And it could either be as quiet as a hunting cat or as loud as jet engine.

Then all the shop mechanics accepted that X was their master. However, X still spent hours working at his secret project. At that point, they all figured he was probably just goofing off downstairs.

So for five years, things went really well.

* * *

"Things are going well, goddess," Vile said. The street was abandoned, so he felt safe in saying that. He clutched the guitar case. "We should be ready to attack in a couple of months. I'm just moving you to a more secure location for the time being."

Zero was walking in such a manner that one would have thought her drunk. There was a brown blanket around her shoulders that she kept her hair under. It was best to keep her hidden. "It's such a pretty night. Where're we going in such a rush? Mary Lou can wait. I don't want this destiny."

Vile took hold of her shoulders before she collapsed again. "Zero? Are you all right? This is the tenth time you've mentioned Mary Lou tonight." Actually, he had no idea why she kept mentioning that name. It was like her obsession with fish.

She grimaced. "I don't want to die."

"Why are you saying that? You're fine."

"I've been swimming in the sea. It was horrible. There was fire everywhere that wasn't fire, and…" she shook her head and looked distressed. "I didn't mean to do that to you."

"What's going on? You haven't done anything wrong to me. You've opened my mind. I don't want to change that."

"You don't understand. Time has collapsed. It all means nothing now. Nothing. Go away and come to play some other day. It'll not happen tonight."

"Goddess!"

She started giggling and something inside her cracked loudly. She collapsed to the ground, motionless.

"Zero! Wake up!"

Sirens came from down the road.

"Shit," Vile said. He picked Zero up and carried her into the alleyway. But the police car stopped a short ways from the alley. He dropped Zero and her guitar case behind a dumpster, pulled the blanket over her, and came out of there. The policemen were looking around the street. Spotting him, one came over.

"Evening sir. I mean, you're a reploid, right?"

Vile nodded. "Yes sir. I was walking around these blocks for some fresh air."

The policeman raised his eyebrows. "Fresh air? This is the worst stinkin' section of the city."

"Well, yes, but I work in the paper factory."

He laughed. "Oh, well that explains it. Do you come here often?"

"Yeah," better not lie about that.

He pointed to the building across the street. "Have you seen people in that building?"

He nodded. "Oh yeah. Bunch of losers, really. They usually come out intoxicated."

"How so?"

Turned out they were out to bust a drug house, so Vile cooperated to keep them from looking where Zero was. But he never thought to look back down the alleyway.

In the center alley, Maverick X was looking around. Tomorrow morning was trash day for this section of the city, the factory quarter. One could find the best junk around here; metal scraps, usable parts, glass, plastics, old tools, wheels, gears, just about anything. Last week he had even found a nuclear core that was half powered. A few adjustments and it'd be good for another fifty years.

This week he found nothing until he got to the old warehouse district. There usually wasn't much here, but if there was, it was often the best treasures. Just beside a dumpster, he spotted a guitar case. It could be sold for a couple of zenny. He opened it up. "Sweet guitar," he said to himself. It was a beautiful thing. He'd never learned to play guitar himself, but knew how to play a piano. It couldn't be that hard, and this guitar looked pricey, in excellent shape. In the bottom of the case, he spotted the handle of a beam saber. That too was in excellent shape, and weapons like that were rare and expensive. Why were these things here?

Next to the case, he saw a large brown blanket bundled around something. Puzzling. But it looked like an okay blanket. He paused as he heard someone talking, just out of his visual range. But no one came. He knelt down and examined it. It was in good condition, good enough to sell to a second hand shop anyways. He turned back a corner and spotted corn blond hair and pale skin. "****, it's a dead girl," he whispered.

He unwrapped the blanket. She was dressed in an armored suit. But there was something decidedly off. He touched her neck and felt no pulse. On impulse, he checked behind her ears. He found an outlet port behind each ear. This was a reploid.

"Who are you and what the hell are you doing here?"

There was no power coming from her ports, but he detected a radiation leak. Her power core must have cracked somehow. Her central core responded to his inquiry. A good sign, it meant she wasn't fully dead yet. Wait…

"You're a guy? Weird."

Reploid gender was blurred anyhow. There was no real use for having bi-gendered reploids, except for language and cosmetics. But nearly every reploid was programmed with a specific gender; when one checked a reploid's programming, one of the first bits of coding told you the gender.

"So why were you built to look like a hooker?" X frowned. "Well, really, it's that armor that does it. Otherwise you're neutral. But in horrible shape, let me tell you. Come on then, let's get you back to the shop and fix you up. If anybody still cares about you, they'll find you."

X picked him up in the blanket, took the guitar case with its things and carried them back to the shop truck. He secured the body and then drove back to the Blasted Machine Shop.

By the time X was securing Zero to the truck, the policeman finally let Vile go. He watched them raid the house, then turned back in a hurry. "That was close… Goddess?" He looked around. "Zero! Where are you?"

He checked in the dumpster; she'd done some stranger things when his back was turned. But she wasn't there, she wasn't in any of the other alleyways, and he couldn't locate her com unit signal. Then again, that sometimes was unreachable even if she was in your line of sight.

"Zero! Come back here!"

But he couldn't find her.

The policeman, Vile thought. They were distracting him while their partners took off with Zero. The fiends…

"They will die."

* * *

Reno greeted him at the shop. "What'd you drag in this time?"

X grinned. "Someone very strange. Come here. Dyne!"

"What?"

"I need your help!"

He came and they helped X pull the blond reploid off the truck and onto a platform. "Who's this girl?" Dyne asked.

"Guy," X corrected. "This one's a guy."

Dyne smiled. "Interesting look for a guy."

Reno shrugged. "One can never account for some people's tastes. So who is he?"

"I dunno. Picked him up in an alley. His owner probably thought he died and got rid of him."

"So is he dead?"

"His programming responded to my query. I know his core is leaking. Not dangerously. Otherwise I would have told you both off."

"Right, and when we get radiation burns, we'll sue you."

"Go ahead Dyne, I dare you. It's mild because his armor is blocking most of it. So I'll have to operate on his inner workings."

"So you think he can be salvaged?"

X shrugged. "Hard to say. Won't know until I get him open and see the full damage. It's worth a shot, I think. And if we can't repair him, we can pull him apart and have spare parts.'

Dyne nodded. "Just recycling is kept mum, right?"

"Right. Reno, can you find a suitable power core to replace his? Not that half-ass one I've been working on."

"Sure. Give me the stats, I've got some good ones on hand."

"I'll call you moron if it's not right."


	7. Freak in the Night

The Maverick Hunters' com officer, Sue-Bella, had an irritating habit of reading the morning announcements in a perky cheerful tone. Rumor had it that she never read them before saying them, so Blues thought he would test that. From Computer Lab 2, he hacked into Sigma's computer and added, "In general opinion, Commander Sigma couldn't find the Cultist right in front of his face," to the announcements. This would be hilarious.

His com unit buzzed. He checked the ID; it was X. Bad timing, but he answered it. "It's late X, what are you doing up?"

"What'd do you think I'm up for?"

He sounded drunk. Thus far Blues had been spared such calls. "Look, I'm at work, I can't talk long."

"Ah ****, I was hopin' you could help me with something. Not exactly, um…"

"Were you arrested?"

He laughed. "No, no, **** lucky I wasn't. I was at some chick's house, reploid girl this time, and her roommate just totally lost it with me. I dunno why."

"Do you need me to call a taxi?"

"No, I'm back at the shop, where the problem is. ****, this thing is creepy."

"What is it?"

"I don't know, some freak or something. Some sort of supernatural spirit… yeah, that's why I called you. I seem to think I should know it, but I can't think of it."

He probably couldn't think straight and was imagining things. "Okay, I'll come down and check on you, but it can't take long. I'm on call."

"You're what?"

"Never mind, I'll be there in a bit."

"Sure, whatever."

Blues hoped to leave and get back without a fuss, but he ran into Sigma outside the teleport station. "Evening sir," he said.

He nodded politely. "Evening. What're you doing up so late? I didn't think your squad was on late night call."

"We aren't, but I'm subbing for someone. However, now I have to deal with a civilian friend."

"What's the deal?"

He shrugged. "I think it's just that he's drunk and paranoid. But I don't want him to hurt himself, so best I just go see what's up."

"That's reasonable enough. You can bring him back here if he is injured."

Not a good idea. "Thanks."

"Sure." He rapped on the side of the station door. "Go ahead and clear Blues for where ever he's going, it's fine."

"Okay boss."

"Thanks a lot," he repeated.

Sigma smiled and went on to what he was doing. Blues smiled a bit, then gave the coordinates for near X's shop. On getting there, he felt a sudden chill. It wasn't the weather. It was definite paranormal activity. What it was, he couldn't sense immediately. But it didn't feel good.

He located X keeping his balance against a fence. "Hey, good to see you."

Blues nodded. "What's going on around here?"

"I don't know. It's better if you see it. Come on."

They turned the corner into the Blasted Machine Shop's garage entrances. On the concrete drive, trails of a thick red substance were snaking outside. It was sort of like blood, only glowing. Blues knelt by the nearest trail. "This is very unusual."

"There's a hella lot more in the shop," X said. "Like some massacre."

"Has this showed up before?"

"Not that I know of. Course, I'm not up this time a night around here much. I'm either in back sleeping or out somewhere else still partying. I just came back, as I said, cause that one chick just wouldn't stop screaming at me. I usually turn on the lights before coming in, but I decided not to cause I just meant to cut through to the house. And there were these things in there, and a huge thing… like an organic heart or something. I didn't touch none of it and just called you."

"Probably a good idea, not touching. Like an organic heart?"

"Yeah, it was pulsating and creepy. Not many things creep me out like that."

There weren't many trails outside, so Blues got up and moved to the garage door, careful not to touch the stuff. Inside, he was reminded of overgrown moss. The red stuff was everywhere. It all connected back to one central pod, which was more circular than heart-shaped. It was beating. Internally, he sensed high levels of negative energy centered on the pod, as well as a possible intelligence. Not a high intelligence, but whatever this was, it was self-aware.

There was also a stray red and yellow form drifting through the air. Its form was vague and mist like. A spirit of some sort. Yet it had a different energy type than the main negative mass. It too was self-aware, but more intelligent and of a neutral type. Blues snapped his fingers a few times, attempting to get its attention. "Stray spirit, would you come to me?"

"Watch your toes," X said, just as some of the outer threads moved closer in. Blues managed to jump clear. It wasn't powerful enough to send them much further. But the stray spirit did come out of the shop.

Blues put his right hand on his chest, a sign that he meant no harm to this spirit. "What were you doing in there?"

The spirit focused into a reploid with red armor and blond hair. But he didn't respond any further.

"Oh, I know him."

"Who is he?"

"I don't know. But you're not dead, okay? You're deactivated in the basement of the shop. So please don't go escaping on me. I know it's been forty days, but I've had to send out for a custom power core for you, okay? Stay here."

The spirit nodded, so he at least understood.

Blues felt puzzled. Normally, X didn't take that long on a repair job. "You've been working on this guy for forty days?"

"He was ****** up when I brought him in. The custom core isn't due for two weeks. ******* drives me nuts, but you have to do what you have to do."

"Right. Well, I didn't bring anything to communicate with lost spirits, living or otherwise. Or anything to deal with that."

"What? I brought you here for nothing?"

"Hey, don't worry. This dark spirit has less than average power. I'll try a simple technique, but if it doesn't work, I'm afraid you'll have to abandon the shop and get a professional paranormalist in."

He looked reluctant to do that, and with good reason. "That'll be expensive."

"Do you have a twenty-four hour grocery around?"

"Grocery? Sure, about ten blocks that way."

"May I borrow your bike?"

X handed over the keys. "Sure, but don't get it banged up."

He was back fifteen minutes later with a single purchase.

"You brought back beans?"

"Dry fava beans. It's an ancient practice I found in Greece. Could you try to get those things move so I can get close into the garage?"

"Sure."

"Don't let it touch you."

"All right, I know." He walked around toward the second entrance. "Hey, you **** red thing! You evil, putrid, globby thing of… globbiness!"

It wasn't X at his usual creative level, but it got the dark spirit's attention. It put several lines together to stretch further out. X laughed and managed to wobble out of reach.

Blues took a handful of dried beans and got as close in as he dared. He threw the beans directly at the pod while screaming Greek curses at it. The red mass shrieked upon being hit. It drew itself in rapidly and reformed itself into a feminine form. Its main body was dark red, but her eyes still glowed.

Then the stray spirit of X's patient vanished and reappeared behind her. Bright columns of white light came up from the floor, causing her to escape the garage. The other spirit vanished and reappeared by the door, looking for her. But she wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"Are you sure that's the guy you have downstairs?" Blues asked.

"It's him all right. Nobody else I know would have that sort of hair."

"I suppose. But it's highly unusual for a living soul separate from the body to be able to do a giga attack."

"I don't know. But don't you go escaping on me, remember?"

The male spirit nodded and returned to mist form. He drifted into the floor, presumably to keep waiting by his body until he was reactivated.

"Too bad I couldn't get a name off him."

"Keep an eye out for that dark spirit. She might return."

"Ah, whatever, I'll deal with her if she does."

* * *

Sigma waited patiently in Granite Park. He watched his target, Rojo 10, as the Cultist waited for contact with the organization. Were he not waiting for his contact, Sigma would have already captured him. But he'd followed a number of these meetings to confirm Rojo 10 as a Cultist. Wouldn't hurt to confirm another.

He adjusted his distance hearing piece just as he heard Rojo say, "Hail to our Goddess."

The other replied, "Hail to our Goddess."

Sigma pulled out a camera and snapped the other. It was Spark Mandrill. The Hunters had yet to suspect him of being within the group. But the hail trapped him.

Rojo sat up. "Have you any word of her, by chance?"

Mandrill shook his head. "He promised we would meet with her often. But around a month ago, he took her to a secure location. We haven't seen her since."

"He is hiding her well."

"He must. No one must find the Goddess, even if we can't know where she is."

"She is that important?" Rojo sounded suspicious.

Sigma frowned. Their goddess figure was important, so why hide her from initiates?

Mandrill snapped his hand forward and grabbed Rojo 10's collar, pulling him forward. Sigma was impressed. As far as he could tell, the red guardsman was powerful. "She is. Do not doubt so much."

"Okay, okay. May she forgive me. So what orders do you have for my squad?"

"Keep training," Mandrill hissed. "Train them harder! We must be ready in time, or else the Goddess will be most displeased. We will be ready. If your squadron does not meet my expectations in two weeks, I will personally disassemble you. Got that?"

Rojo nodded in fear. "Right, right. They will be ready sir. You can count on it."

When they split, Sigma followed Rojo along the city streets. He was headed for the local business district, which would be full of humans this time of day. So he moved into position to encounter Rojo and arrest him.

But just as he meant to move in, Rojo stopped and knelt down. "Strange little doggy. Cute though."

There was a high-pitched yip. Sigma walked up and noticed the mop of fur on the sidewalk. Skipping around in a circle, it looked up at Rojo. The Cultist smiled.

"Hello furball." He reached down to pet it.

The dog thing tripled in size and chomped hard on Rojo's hand, making him scream like the thing had yipped just moments ago. He jumped back and shook his hand wildly, but failed to lose the dog thing. "Get it off, get it off!"

Rojo backed into Sigma, who drew his blaster and shot the dog thing at close range. It yelped and exploded into furry bits. The Cultist heaved a sigh and turned to him. "Thanks man. I don't know what came over it."

Sigma hit Rojo with a shock stick, stunning him. "Rojo 10, you are under arrest by the Maverick Hunters."

* * *

In Silver Willow Paths, a suburb of San Francisco, the police and Davishes were holding a war. The Davishes tore up anything in their berserker paths. The police threw tear gas grenades among the dog aliens. For ten minutes, nothing happened. Then, at last, the Davishes reverted to their small forms and collapsed unconscious. The police force carefully caged and muzzled them before shipping them off for study.

In a park of Silver Willow Paths, two individuals watch the policemen gather up the dog aliens. One was a young man of indeterminate age, most likely his twenties. He had brown hair and brown eyes, as well as a mechanical right arm and several other cybernetic additions. "That experiment is down."

The other was a young boy, probably about five to eight. He was sitting on a car roof. He was scruffy with black hair and black eyes. "It wasn't what I'd expect out of you, Danny. Cutesy animals don't seem your type."

The young man glared at his companion. "That's Daedelous. And it had a purpose. I just don't intend on telling you."

"Right. And since when have you been studying genetics? How did you get the time?"

"Shut up. You don't deserve to know."

"Fine. When you need me, you'll tell me."

"What makes you think you're necessary?"

"You brought me here."

"You have your purposes too, to be shamed! I will prove myself the best."

The boy kicked his feet out. "With cute critters?"

"Don't damage my car."

"Hey, I'm just a kid."

He glared. "Right. You just keep thinking that, Avery."


	8. Meet Glitchy

X installed the new power core into his project, the strange blond reploid. It was different from the original, but he would not subject anyone to that core. The original was poorly made, with bad metals and loose connections. From his calculations, the reploid had been operating with the faulty power core for years. Who would subject him to that physical hell, X wondered. That alone would cause power surges leading to migraines and even seizures. And that was merely one problem of many.

Like parasitic programming. X had no idea there was such a thing until a week ago. He'd spent a good hour calculating how much shop power to run to the guy on, but his numbers always came up short. Then he ran an energy trail test and discovered a small silver box was draining power for no apparent purpose. He'd never seen anything like it. For the time being, he cut its power supply off. If it really did nothing, he could remove it completely. But in case it did do something, he left it in.

With a quality power core finally in, X connected wires and tubes, then shut the fellow's chest plate and fused it again. It was well made armor with a sealing system oddly similar to his own. It bewildered him further. This guy had top-notch armor for extreme battle conditions, but a faulty power core that had been doomed to explode from the start? Evil.

"Okay, my glitchy friend," he said, "let's see how dead you are." He fired a pulse of electrical energy into his outlet ports.

He started right up and opened his eyes. Then he put his hands over his eyes and groaned. "Yikes, what a hangover."

X grinned. "Well, I haven't gotten a good look inside your head yet. It's taken me two ******* months to work on your body."

He lowered his hands, but was squinting. X pulled a curtain over the closest window. "What happened last night? How drunk did I get? Did you say two months?"

He nodded. "Two months. That must have been some serious binge you went on."

"No kidding. Wish I could remember it." He paused. "Or anything."

"Like I said, I haven't seen the inside of your head. Don't worry; I'll get on it. I'm Maverick X. And you?"

"Zero… I think. It's all rather fuzzy."

"Odd. Better than what we've been calling you."

"And what's that?"

"Glitchy. Come on, you were so messed up your power core exploded. I wanna know what the hell you were doing that night to cause yourself this level of internal damage."

Zero stared at him a moment, then chuckled. "Glitchy, huh? I suppose. There was something about fish… it seemed very important. And linguini… but I can't follow that thought out."

"All right, you're seriously weird. I hope you don't mind, but when I rebuilt your armor plating, I made it less feminine looking."

"You altered my armor?" He was quite mad.

"Everyone thought you were a female, man. You needed it. I considered whacking your hair off too."

That really made Zero mad. " _No one_ cuts my hair."

X laughed and waved his hand. "All right, so your hair stays. Besides that, there were some plans I could access for upgrades that were never added. So I added those, hoping that make things run better for you."

"In that case, I don't mind my armor being altered much." He glanced it over. "I didn't think I was that feminine looking."

"You sure? I would've gotten drunk a lot too if I looked that effeminate. Course that's me."

"I can't know as things are."

"Do you have an internal programming self-check? My computer can't read your language and I get blocked from trying."

Zero nodded. "Yeah, give me a few minutes."

X put the tools back in their proper places. He took Zero's old power core and shut it in a radiation cleaning chamber. There was nothing to salvage from it, but he didn't want to be arrested for radiation pollution. That was weak. If he was going to get arrested, it was going to be for something major.

"My skull plating has been crushed somehow," Zero finally reported. "That's what's setting off my pain receptors. My internal gyroscopes are spinning erratically. I think I have some more damage because the check program keeps seizing up."

"Programming checks aren't supposed to ******* do that. And you were supposed to be checking your core programming."

"Can't. I tried all my checking programs. None of them will let me check my programming."

"All right, then I guess I'll just have to work on your head very carefully. Of course, if your skull plating is that bad off, that could be affecting the checks."

"What was I doing? It was very important."

"Go back to sleep," X advised. "I'll work on your cracked head and we'll talk more about that when you're thinking straight. S'all right?"

"Sure. Hey, was there anything with me?"

"Yeah. A blanket, a guitar in a case, and a plasma saber."

He nodded. "That sounds right."

"Your stuff?"

"Yeah."

"You play guitar?"

"Of course. How about you?"

"Nah. I play piano and keyboards."

"Nice. Maybe when I'm working we can play sometime."

"Sure why not. I assume then that you can fight with that sword."

"Certainly."

"Anything else you do?"

Zero hesitated. "Well, I have a strange power…"

"It can't be that strange. Heck, I steal the powers of my defeated enemies. That's pretty strange by most standards."

"Oh, well, I make reploids feel happy by touching them in a special place."

X laughed. "Whoa, I don't think we need to talk about that anymore."

Zero chuckled. "I suppose that's funny. But that's the best way to describe it. I probably shouldn't use it on you if you're working on me though. It sometimes makes their brains a little whacked."

"I'll take your word for it. Now go to sleep so I can work on your ******* brain."

* * *

X went out to his favorite hardware store looking for gyroscopes. There were several in the Blasted Machine Shop's basement, but none that would fit Zero. He harassed some of the employees until they searched the stockroom for the proper sized models. Zero had an odd requirement for the entire system, but it would give a more accurate sense of balance and position.

But they had none of the proper scopes. X cussed them out, and then was recommended to visit some place out of town. He was reassured they had unusual parts there. Fine, whatever. Just so long as he got the right parts eventually.

He came out and spotted Sigma, who was trying to look like he wasn't watching anyone. Smiling, he got in the truck bed and acted like he was rummaging through his toolbox. He noticed Sigma was watching another reploid who was trying to look like he was reading a newspaper. But the other reploid kept looking off in a certain direction, waiting for someone. He wasn't even aware that he was being watched by Sigma, who wasn't aware that X was watching him.

Pitiful.

X strolled up to Sigma. "Nice day for a stakeout, eh man?"

Sigma dropped his camera. "Don't do that!"

The other reploid finally noticed them. He studied them warily.

"Do what, be friendly? You're a regular stiff after all. Or maybe not so regular and more law enforcing."

The other reploid's eyes went wide. He scurried off, trying to look like he wasn't trying to get away.

"Can't you do anything with tact, stranger?" He looked like he doubted that last part, though, although he couldn't put a name to X.

Grinning, X took advantage of that. "Damn straight I can't. I do things the way I think things ought to get done. That's the best way, right? Right."

"No, you must do the things that are right."

"So what's right and what's wrong? It's all objective."

"No it's not." He looked over. "And now you made me lose my target."

"Not that you were doing a good job watching him. Heck, you were so fricking obvious it only worked because he was oblivious."

"Who are you to judge? You know nothing of what I do."

X put his hands behind his back and grinned. "I've been watching you all day Sigma, leader of the Maverick Hunters. I watch you when I get bored, waiting for my chance to… but that's another day and another story."

"Are you threatening me?"

"Am I?"

"You're lying. You must be."

"How can you tell? There's no way for me to prove I have been watching you all day. But I have been. How much do you trust my word?"

"Who the hell are you?" Sigma felt a twinge of doubt. If this reploid had been watching him all day, and he hadn't noticed, he was doing a very poor job indeed. But the stranger could be lying. Had to be. Right?

"I'm known as Maverick X. I'm probably the top non-Cultist on your wanted lists." He winked. "And I'm the jerk who made you bald."

That finally got a light bulb of recognition. "X, I'm arresting you for obstructing justice on behalf of the Maverick Hunters. And all of your other crimes. I know you now."

"Whoa, hold on little buddy. Arrest me for obstructing justice? I was being friendly and helpful today. I'm not like that often, so you'd best ******* accept it when I am. Clear?"

"No, you listen."

"I am."

"Let me talk."

"Do so."

"You knew I was staking him and you blew my cover, letting him get away. That's obstructing justice. And there's your traffic violations."

X rolled his eyes. "Traffic violations? Please. That's incredibly weak. What, you catch me speeding in isolated areas? I'll agree to racing dirt roads, but nobody's out there. Nobody. At most you can fine me a hundred for it."

"Come quietly and we'll discuss this."

"Oh yeah? Well, listen to me; you can mark me up for resisting arrest yet again, because I ain't going with ya."

"Yip!"

X stepped back and looked aside. There was a brown fluffy thing on the ground that looked suspiciously like a dog. It yipped again.

Sigma drew his weapon. "Davish!"

Oh, so that was a Davish. X smiled. "It's just a dog, Sigma. No need to kill it. See, I am being nice and merciful today. Must be your ******* lucky day."

"That's just a dog? You have no idea. It's a mean little bugger."

"So you're scared of lapdogs? Wild man, simply wild."

"Well you're so brave. Why don't you pick the thing up?"

Oo, that was tempting bait. But X would not look like a fool, especially before Sigma. He whistled. "Hey little dog, Sigma there's a sissy, ain't he?"

The Davish yipped at X, then looked at Sigma. It snarled.

Sigma yelped and fired his blaster.

The Davish transformed and lunged at Sigma, managing to put teeth holes in his armor. The Maverick Hunter yelled and ran in circles, trying to get the alien thing off. X laughed, then whistled again. "Go dog!"

It let go of Sigma, who ran out of the park. The Davish growled at X, daring him to make a false move.

X searched his pockets until he came up with something; a piece of jerky he'd intended to have as a snack later that day. It wasn't necessary for reploids to eat, but they could and enjoyed it. He knelt down and held it out. "Good boy. Here's some jerky for making a fool of Sigma."

The Davish growled, then fell silent to sniff the dried meat. It growled again, but with a tone of uncertainty. Then X jiggled the meat, and the Davish snatched it. Finding it good, it turned back into the fluff ball. "Yip?"

"I think I'll call you Fang-chan," he said with a grin. "Come on Fang-chan!"

Fang-chan yipped a question again, and then followed X to the truck.

"Is that one of those dangerous aliens I've heard about?" was Reno's question.

"The Davishes? Yup. His name is Fang-chan."

He stayed a respectful distance away from the dog alien examining the shop. "What are you going to do with him?"

"Train him to be a guard dog."

"Can that be done?"

"Won't know until I try."

X put a warning sign on the shop's fence, "Guard dog in training.' Then he had to head back out for his original purpose, finding Zero's gyroscopes.

* * *

After making sure the Davish was secured behind the garages, X went back out to search for the shop with obscure parts. It turned out to be in the middle of a no man's land of businesses, where slots were cheap because nobody wanted them and every parking lot had at least one garden of weeds springing through the concrete. The strip mall was a good sized one, but all that was left was a dollar shop that may have been closed, a dubious video shop, a dry cleaner, and the Valhalla Hardware Store.

The hardware store itself was dusty and poorly lit, even though the storefront was facing south. There was strong smelling incense burning; a sign declared it to be 'Egyptian Papyrus.' The shelves were loaded with all sorts of things: kitchen gadgets, pottery, hand tools, ropes, doorknobs, lanterns, lamps, vacuum bags, brooms, paperclips, toys, fly swatters, and weird things with no apparent purpose. Some merchandise was hanging from the ceiling, primarily birdhouses and mobiles, but one scythe was stuck into the wood, hanging precariously over a display of glassware. An ancient record player, of all things, was on a table playing a Wagner opera. But the most noticeable aspect of the place was the proliferation of bubble-blowing machines that filled the air with soap bubbles.

X wasn't sure he got the right address.

Still, he went up to counter and rang a bell. There seemed to be no one there, but there was a colony of weird green bubbles, unlike the translucent soap bubbles all over the rest of the shop. There was also a stuffed animal on the counter. It looked like a jellyfish, but the label said it was a Nightmare. He rang the bell a second time.

"We're only open on Tuesdays!" an irritated voice yelled from the back room.

"It is Tuesday," he replied.

"It is?"

"Yes."

"Oh. I didn't notice." The door opened and the shop owner floated out. He looked very peculiar. "I'm Infinity Mijinion and this is the Valhalla Hardware Store. What do you want?"

"What in hell are you supposed to be?"

"Actually, I have no idea." He scratched his head. "I just am, you know?"

"I guess. Look, I think I got the wrong place, but just in case, I've been told you stock some obscure reploid parts."

"I get stuff when I feel like it. I might have it. What're you looking for?"

He brought out a notebook where he'd copied down as much information as he had on Zero's data. "This gyroscope array has no deviance allowance and nobody makes scopes in these sizes. Not a single one. But it's either get him an exact replica of his broken scopes or retrain him in every movement."

Mijinion took the notebook and studied the numbers. "Oh, yes, yes, I've seen this sort of thing before."

"You have?"

He nodded. "Yeah, it's called an Assassin Array. It's used exclusively for reploids built for mass destruction and anarchy. Makes for a top class warrior right off the bat."

X glanced over the numbers himself. "Makes sense… but this guy I'm working on says he's a musician."

"I suppose you could use it for ballet or gymnastics if the reploid wished it."

"Meh, you can never tell how a reploid's personality will turn out. So do you have one of these Assassin Arrays in stock?"

"Actually, I think I do. Let me go look." He floated out to a shelf filled with all sorts of nails, hooks, and spatulas. Shuffling around in the various boxes, he pulled a black metal box out of the box of roofing nails. "Um, yup, this is it. Here you go."

X opened up the metal box and checked inside. And yes, there were the proper number of scopes and pieces in the exact dimensions needed. "Where did you get this?"

"I traded it for a gross of anti-gravity strips with some five year old."

"A five year old?"

"I'm not kidding. Some black haired kid named Avery came in. Knew exactly what he wanted and traded fairly for it. I have no idea what he wants anti-gravity strips for when he had access to an Assassin Array. But he came in with an older boy and I had to kick them out when Danny tried to cheat me out of a Meinlinger Generator Unit. Avery was a nice kid, but Danny was a ******* bastard, believe me."

Not that he really cared about that story. "Okay. So how much you want for this?"

"How much of what?"

"Money. You know, zenny?"

"Oh that. No, this is a trade shop. You have to trade for that."

"Trade? You're allowed to do that?"

Mijinion shrugged. "Well, no one's stopped me. What've you got?"

"I wasn't expecting this."

He shut the box and took it back. "You have to trade something. What do you have with you?"

"All I brought here was my bike… you're not taking that."

"So what else could you bring over?"

X thought about it. This was a rare part, but he said trading it for a gross of anti-gravity strips was fair. "Well, I have some other bikes at the shop."

"I don't deal with transports. Anything else? I'm short musical instruments."

"He'd kill me if I traded his guitar. I do have a keyboard I've been repairing."

"Is it repaired?"

"Not yet, but I could probably finish it in a week."

"No. That won't work."

He really didn't want to do this, but if he had to… "I have some specialized repair tools in my shop. Just about anything, if you need something."

"That's tempting, but…" he glanced toward the back of the shop and then smiled. It was one of those smiles that made you nervous. "Say, I have an experiment going on in back. Would you mind being a test subject in exchange for the Assassin Array?"

"What sort of experiment?"

"Psychological and a new source of clean burning energy."

"Psychology and energy?"

He was very proud of himself. "In one brilliant stroke! It's almost free energy. Want to try it out?"

"Is it dangerous?"

"I haven't killed anyone yet."

"Sure, why not? In back?"

"Yes, follow me." He floated back through the doors. "What's your name?"

"Maverick X."

"You should be a perfect subject."

"Why?"

"You'll see. Here we are." He stopped by a closet. "Go in there."

Inside the closet, there was a bench around three walls, a visor with a wireless receiver, and a block of orange glass on one wall. Nothing else. "What is this?"

"It's a specialized chamber."

"It's a closet."

"The science here is on the very cutting edge. Hardly anyone is studying this range of questions, of capturing mental energy waves and transforming them into a usable storable product. I'm making psychic batteries."

X smirked. "Psychic batteries?"

"Go on in! I'll make one based off your mental energy."

"That would be interesting." Although he doubted the process, he went ahead and entered the closet chamber. "Do I need the visor on?"

"Yes, it should go over your eyes and attach to your outlet ports. You do have two, right?"

"Course I do. Only two percent of reploids only have one. Usually the weird ones, more so than you."

"That's true. Okay, we're starting the process."

Infinity Mijinion shut the door. X attached the visor to his outlet ports and adjusted it until it was comfortably over his eyes. It tinted everything pink. Except the glass block, which still appeared very orange. He sat on the bench in a spot where he could see that block. As he expected, light orange streaks began to appear on the glass. It was doing calculations, but after a while, X could no longer keep up with it.

"Hang on X," Mijinion said over a hidden speaker. "You're going to start experiencing things. That's certain. It's the machine tapping into your brain waves. Just try to stay calm as long as possible."

"Sure. It should be no problem."

"If you say so. Here we go."

The glass block released a bright light. X closed his eyes until he heard footsteps. "Hey maverick," Sigma said.

He opened his eyes and was blown away by the depth of this virtual simulator. Sigma was standing in front of him, looking fairly calm. X replied, "What is it, baldy?"

"Very funny," he said sternly. "We're ready to start."

He shrugged. "Whatever."

He was strapped to a wooden chair, in such a way that even he would have a hard time escaping it. Wires hooked his outlet ports to some machine. It was ten feet high and ten feet wide, mostly made up of a large display screen. The whole setup looked like an old fashioned TV. X, the machine, and Sigma were up on a stage. The small audience room was almost full. There were mostly strangers, but he could recognize some people. Maverick Hunters, Zero, his mechanics, Bloodhound and the rest of his gang, some of his regular customers, and his two brothers. They looked rather bored at the moment.

Sigma walked over to the machine and fiddled with the controls. "Let's begin this interrogation."

"Sure." He didn't feel too worried. This was a simulation, after all.

The television sputtered and repeated in his voice, "Sure, you big baby, not like you're getting anything out of me."

Somebody in the audience giggled. X grinned.

Sigma managed to keep his temper. "This is a special lie detector. No matter what you say, it will play what you're really thinking. It will also play back memories as you are reminded of them. So now we will know exactly what you did and what you were thinking about when you did it."

X didn't say anything, but the lie detector said, "You don't have the ******* technology to do that. Or maybe you do. Jerk."

Sigma came over to his chair and stood over X. "Now, where did you get that Assassin Array?"

He said nothing. The lie detector promptly played back the whole meeting between X and Infinity Mijinion, exactly as it happened with every detail he noticed. But Sigma said, "Enough," when they began talking what to trade for it. The detector flickered, played a bit more, and then stopped.

"Where is that shop?" one of the Hunters in the audience called out.

The detector obediently told the address of the Valhalla Hardware store. X thought that the machine was being rude for invading his own mind. Almost as soon as he thought it, it appeared on the screen as a subtitle.

This wasn't good.

The machine betrayed his growing anxiety.

Sigma watched his nervous thoughts flit about on the screen, then looked X straight in the eyes. "All right, now that you're open to the truth, we must know the reasons behind your deviant behaviors. There are a number of possible causes…" he glanced at the screen. "I would like to start with what really happened between you and Dr. Light before the missing day of the apocalypse."

There was no way to make the lie detector machine lie itself…

* * *

X was sweating as he tore off the pink visor. "Okay, that was good," Mijinion said over the speaker.

X threw open the door and glared at him. "What did you do to me?"

The shopkeeper was observing a glass container with a strange yellow gel inside. "Used electrical stimulants on the emotional sector of your central core to produce powerful mental energy, in this case, fear. It worked very well on you."

"I'll kill you for that."

Mijinion finally looked up. "I do admit, it tends to seek out the strongest fear within the subject and play it to the most extreme measure. So what did you see?"

The question made him pause before he blasted the strange reploid to bits. "What? But, weren't you controlling the experiment?"

"Yes, but I can't translate mental energy waves. They're too complex to translate outside of the individual's head. Everything you saw was your own mind trying to account for the massive spike of fear and make sense of it. Thus, it pulls out your worst fears and forces you to experience them completely. You were screaming pretty loudly in there, and I even have soundproofing on that chamber. So what was it?"

X felt deeply relieved. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Suit yourself. This is a very good trade for that Assassin Array. In fact… hang on, it's around here somewhere." He floated up to the top shelves of his stockroom, which was overflowing with more oddities.

He rubbed his forehead and glanced around for a mirror, wondering how he looked at the moment. But oddly enough, a mirror seemed to be the one thing missing from the store. "I don't think your energy gathering will catch on. Except maybe as torture."

Mijinion was rustling stuff about. "I've only been able to translate fear so far. Perhaps if I tried joy, I'd get more subjects… what foot size is your project?"

"Foot size?" He picked up his notebook and checked. "Size 10."

"Ah-ha! That's perfect." He floated down with a foot module, very pleased. "This is a Kuuenbu Adapter."

"A what?"

He handed it over. "Armor attachment. It allows the bearer to double jump."

"Don't you mean jump twice as high? You can't… jump in midair."

"Not normally. But Kuuenbu allows for it. Only one extra jump in midair, but it's still handy. However, in order to use this adapter, the reploid in question must have an advanced gyroscope array. It works perfectly with an Assassin Array."

"Does it have the program I need to install on him?"

"Sure, on that chip." He pointed to a taped on chip that X hadn't noticed before. "With a fear capsule that powerful, I have to give this adapter to you to even out the trade. Is that a deal?"

"All right, well…" he didn't really want to thank the shopkeeper for the parts, not with what he had to pay for it.

"Come back any time you need something odd," Mijinion said. "I'll probably have it. But only on Tuesdays!"

"Maybe." He took the Assassin Array and the foot attachment, leaving in a hurry.


	9. The Mind-Bending Ear-Piercing Uberfast Songster

"Rar rar rar rar!" Fang-chan was going nuts over someone coming up to the shop.

X kicked him lightly. "NO. Do not hassle the customers."

Fang-chan growled at X. So far, they'd had an uneasy peace, but the Davish was getting tired of taking orders from a reploid. He transformed and bit X's hand.

"You're gonna wish you hadn't done that," X said. He spun around quickly and threw the alien dog over the shop roof.

"Yipe!"

"That was a nice throw," Blues said.

X turned back and smiled. "Hey man, what're you doing here?"

They shook hands. "What, I can't just drop by every so often?"

"I don't mind, but you don't drop by without reason."

"All right, so I've got a few." He nodded to his meta-bike. "I turned it over to get something fixed, but I swear they did something wrong. The steering is slow to respond. You got time to look it over?"

X knelt by the bike. "Sure, my next appointment's not for another hour. What'd you turn it in for?"

"I was in pursuit of a suspect and had to spin around at high speed. Didn't notice a slick spot and the bike slipped out from under me."

"****. You get hurt?"

Blues shrugged. "It wasn't too bad. Our healer-mechanics are better than our vehicle mechanics. I keep saying that isn't gonna cut it for long."

"No kidding. I think I see the problem."

"How bad is it?"

"They should have caught it, as a hazard. But it's not hard to fix. Come on in."

The brothers went inside for the needed equipment. "The other thing was that I wanted to ask about that dark spirit that was in here a few months ago."

"The what?"

"I didn't think you were that drunk."

He nodded. "Oh, right, that spirit, with the weird heart. Haven't seen or felt it since."

"And what about the patient?"

"He's up and running." X pointed. "Not perfectly."

A few minutes later, Zero walked up to them. He tapped X on the shoulder. "Xtay, erethay eemssay otay ebay atay oblempray."

X looked at him. "What problem?"

Looking embarrassed, he replied, "Itay an'tcay eemsay otay eakspay ormallynay."

"That's obvious."

"What is?"

"He's stuck in Pig Latin."

Zero shrugged. "Itay idday opstay eakingspay intay ymesrhay."

X nodded. "That was annoying. Oh, this would be my older brother, Blues. And this is Zero."

They shook hands. "Good to see your soul got settled."

"Atwhay?"

"You wouldn't remember," X said.

Fang-chan finally came in. He whined and looked repentant. Anyone who could throw him on a roof was a strong leader.

X looked at him. "Are you going to do as I tell you now?"

"Yip."

"All right then. Go back to watching, but bark nicely if anyone comes up. Got that?"

"Ruff." Fang-chan strutted off, forgiven.

"You've got one of those aliens hanging around?" Blues asked in distaste.

"He's just a silly dog," X said. "No matter where he comes from. I'm trying to make him a proper guard dog for night."

"You do have expensive stuff here. But still, a Davish?"

"At'swhay ongwray ithway Angfay-Anchay? E'shay atay icenay ogday."

"He doesn't like aliens in general," X explained.

"Not after they ran off with Roll."

Zero gave him a puzzled look.

"Aliens kidnapped our sister. We got security footage of them doing it."

"And that's why he's with the FBI. Although you think the government would take better care of your equipment. They've done good so far."

"We got some new people in."

"I see. So any more luck on finding those aliens?"

He shook his head. "Nope. No word of Duo either. I knew we couldn't trust that guy."

"Oh, give up on him. He probably miscalculated a solar circuit or something and crashed into the sun."

"You hardly knew him. He was smarter than that."

X stood up. "There, that should take care of your steering problem."

"That it?"

"Yeah. Although you might want to tell your government mechanic to get his eyes checked."

* * *

It was early one morning, too early for the mechanics to be in and just early enough for the sun to be up. There was guitar music on the shop floor. X sat up and listened. It was a song he wasn't familiar with. He left his office and found Zero playing while sitting on an elevated car jack.

He hopped over the rail and onto the floor. "What the **** are you doing up this early?"

"Morning X," he responded without missing a beat. He did turn the volume down some. "Just playing. I didn't think you'd be sleeping in the office."

He shrugged. "I do that a lot when there's paperwork to be done."

"Sorry."

"I can deal with it. So what's that song you're playing? I've never heard it before."

"I wrote it."

"You write music too?"

Zero nodded. "Certainly. Not often though. This is probably my favorite song I've written. It can banish evil spirits."

"Really?" he asked skeptically.

"Really, it can. I play it when I have nightmares. Calms my nerves down. It always works."

"If you say so. What'd you call it?"

"Oceania." Zero stopped playing. "You want to learn guitar? I can teach you."

"Maybe."

"Aw, come on. You knew the worth of Angel, so I know you're interested."

"Okay, sure. We've got an hour before the shop opens."

"Great! Here you go." He handed over his guitar. "Just be careful with my baby. I've had her for years."

"I know."

* * *

"You play well, but your singing is mediocre."

"Bah," X said. "Do you know how much quality vocal systems that allow for singing cost? Way more than they're worth, except to musicians. And I'm a mechanic."

Zero shrugged. "All well. More singing time for me. I am a musician."

"That's obvious. You play that guitar like a hell raiser."

"I guess so."

"Hey, keep playing you two!"

"Keep your shirt on!" X yelled back before starting in on a new song.

They were in Riley's Dance Club, playing during an open evening. Much of their shared song data were from the 20th and 21st centuries, causing some confusion to the 22nd century audience. But most of the clubbers were getting into their jams, which would be promising for more evenings. Riley's has asked for any amateur Michigan band to come play for a few hours. Their band was just the two of them, Zero on his lovely guitar and X on a keyboard he'd rescued from being junked. Hopefully, this could become a regular gig.

At the end of their allotted time, they met with Riley's manager. "Your attitude is rough, but acceptable. You boys play really well, even if your song styling is odd."

"It's classic rock style," Zero said. "More or less."

"Right. But it's not exactly our usual groove, so we can't host you two. Sorry."

"I thought they'd like a different sound," Zero said.

"***-***. We can find somewhere for this rock."

On their way out, they heard someone say, "Hang on, I want to talk to you."

The source of the pretty voice was a male reploid with long light blue hair (but not as long as Zero's) and silvery scaled armor. X couldn't decide which long haired freak was girlier. "Yes bishie?" he asked.

He was either ignorant of or ignoring the meaning. "You two play very well. I'm Cyclone, a singer, and I need a band for a concert I have coming up. If we work well together, it could be a permanent thing."

"You know our era of songs?" Zero asked.

"Fairly well."

"We could have him sing 'Sign, Signs,'" X teased.

"Sing something," Zero said. "Whatever."

"Sure." And Cyclone proceeded to sing a verse from 'American Pie.'

"Not exactly a rock and roll voice," X said. "But your singing is damn stunning."

"Well, I was based off of sirens."

"The mythical monster women who sang and drove men mad? Freaky."

Cyclone blushed. "Um, yeah, them. I don't really get it either."

"We could try a few songs together," Zero said. "You think so?"

"It's a start."

"Good. My concert is in a month, though. They don't have a genre theme; they just want all reploid bands."

"Who's they?" X asked.

"The Cult of the Goddess," Cyclone said. "They say it's a private show for their membership, which is exclusively reploids. Hence, no humans in bands."

"Sure. Let's try this out. We can use my shop."

* * *

X and Zero practiced with Cyclone a few times a week. He was an excellent musician. He gave them some of his own songs to play as well. Not quite the hard rock they liked; more of an energetic techno. It was worth playing to hear Cyclone speed sing his tunes. If needed, he could sing at auctioneer speed.

But drawing closer to the Cultist concert, Zero started to get nervous. "What, you got stage freight?" X asked once when he tripped over some power cords.

"No, I'm perfectly fine playing on stage. It's just… the Cult."

X picked up a soldering gun. A few of his notes were skippy or wouldn't play in certain modes. "The Cult? They're a bunch of happy-go-lucky loonies. Cyclone's music is perfect for them."

Zero sat by the keyboard. "I know they're loons. But for some reason, I don't want to be recognized by them."

"You knew some Cultists?"

"Possibly. I'm just getting this gut feeling that if I go to the concert something bad will happen, because someone will recognize me."

"Sounds like you pissed someone off once. Can you hand me the volt meter?"

"This thing?"

"Yeah that."

"I might have. It's just on the edge of my mind, and I can't access it."

"Rewiring your head has been damn tricky. Remember when you spent a day speaking only in Dr. Seuss type rhymes? Or when you went colorblind because I was working on your hearing sensors? I still don't get why that happened."

"I don't want to be recognized at this concert, not by the Cultists."

"I can give you an alternate armor if you like, but it won't do you any ******* good. That hair of yours is a dead giveaway."

"I'm not cutting it."

"We can dye it."

"Dye my hair?"

"Sure. It'll still be too long to be normal, but it might just change your appearance enough to do the job."

"I guess so." There was a pause. "We have to go to the hair salon to do that, right?"

"Of course. I was planning on getting my hair trimmed anyhow. I might highlight it too if you're getting a full dye job."

"Sure." But there was a touch of anxiety still in his voice.

* * *

The hair salon was empty, as it was normal working hours for most of the population. The way Zero was acting, though, you'd think they were in a war zone. "Would you chill?" X asked. "You're making me nervous now."

"Sorry, ah…"

"What is it now?"

He stalled outside the door. "Um… I'm scared of barbers."

"You are?"

"Yeah, it's… I don't really know. I just am."

"You're just being silly now. Come on, I've come to these guys for years. They do a good job. And remember, you're only getting your hair dyed."

"Right, yeah. Just dyed."

X came in the door and waved at the woman standing there. "Hey Lindy!"

"Oh, hello X. You in for your usual trim?"

"Yeah, that and some punk highlights. And Zero here is going for a full freaking hair dye."

"Yes," Zero said stiffly. "Just dyed."

Lindy grinned. "Well, that will take some time. Skizzer, would you come help this reploid have his hair colored?"

"Sure, hang on."

He came out of the office, which was probably a mistake. Skizzer was a reploid hair stylist, sure enough. He looked like the freak offspring of Edward Scissorhands and Cut Man, with sharp edges all over his armor. If you were afraid of barbers, Skizzer was probably your worst nightmare. Certainly was Zero's.

"Aaaahh!" Zero shrieked and tried to hide behind X. "Stay away!"

"Maybe you ought to take care of him Lindy," X suggested.

"Yeah… sorry Skizzer."

He shrugged. "Happens more often than you know. Come on back here."

* * *

"You two got jazzed up," Cyclone mentioned when they met him at the concert site.

"Eh, just for fun," X said. He'd built them both white armors that sort of matched Cyclone's silver scales. X also got metallic purple streaks in his hair. Zero had his hair dyed cotton candy pink. Lindy had done a superb job. It certainly changed his look.

"This is Bit and Byte of the Cult," Cyclone said. "They're organizing this event. These two are my band. So everything's taken care of?"

"Sure," Bit said.

"Just plug your instruments into the stage sound system and go."

"If you say so," Zero said skeptically.

When they got to playing, X was irritated by an interference problem that definitely wasn't coming from his rescued keyboard. Otherwise, the concert went on without a problem. No one recognized Zero with pink hair and white armor.

The trouble came in the parking lot.

Cyclone helped them pack stuff up in the shop truck, although he was a weakling when it came to physical strength. Zero said, "That was pretty good. The only problem was the Cultists not testing for interference."

"Yeah, I hated that," X said. "******* messed me up."

"You want to keep playing with us, Cyclone?"

X was about to add that if they did that, he wanted credit given to everyone in the trio, not just Cyclone.

" _I'd like you to help me_ ," Cyclone sang.

But it wasn't his usual voice. It was an intoxicating female voice. It made X feel very strange, like he wanted to help Cyclone with whatever he had in mind.

"Of course," Zero said, his voice tinted with awe.

"If you'd want us," X said, almost unwillingly.

"Let's go back to your shop," Cyclone said normally.

On the way back, he began singing again. " _Darn vocal powers that only work on males. If my siren voice worked on everyone, then I would be unstoppable. You two are going to help me extend these powers to work on females._ " He smiled. " _By the time we make it back to your shop, you won't be able to fight me._ " Then he drifted off into a real melody. It made no sense, but it didn't have to.

Sirens drove men mad, X recalled. He didn't like anyone to strip him of his willpower and self-control. But it was difficult against someone who sang that control away. Singing…

Cyclone's nonsense song was going on, forcing him to focus on the road to fight off the song's allure. Then he activated one of his alternate helmets. It was Dr. Light's helmet, the one that made him deaf. He intended to take it out of his system, but it kept coming back.

Silence was all he heard. He felt mildly disappointed and was tempted to go back to listening to the song. He also felt irritated that Dr. Light's poorly made helmet was coming in handy, even if not as intended. Thinking of a good confrontation place, he drove on to a nearby public parking lot.

When they got there, he got out of the truck and made sure he could see Cyclone's face. Particularly his lips. X could lip read, a skill he used to learn about women without being near them. It was helpful skill in a loud bar.

"If I have a band," Cyclone explained, "with certain songs and instruments, I can sap the wills of women too. Otherwise, I just make men fall madly in love with me. As you both know now."

Zero said, "Of course Cyclone."

"I'm sorry," X said, "but I can't hear a dang thing you're saying."

He glared. "What?"

"I can't hear you," he said louder. He could, to some degree, know what volume he was speaking at. "I put on this lousy helmet that makes me deaf. So you are not controlling me. I can't stand people who try to control me."

"Dammit, I needed you. Zero, knock him out and take off his helmet."

Zero activated his saber and turned on X. X had not made these two armors for battle, and Zero's saber could probably slice the material like butter.

First things first: get out of Zero's way. X dashed into the parked cars and kept low. Zero pursued him, hardly trying. A few cars down, Cyclone set off a whirlwind attack. It picked up several small cars and tossed them in random directions. It also caught Zero and threw him slightly off course.

Cyclone was no warrior, and his armor wasn't battle ready either. So he made an obvious first target. X decided to try higher ground and snipe at him with charged shots. Ahead of him was a building, which had some decorative features that could become cover. X leapt onto the wall and started climbing.

Zero dashed, dash-jumped, then double jumped over X's head, intending on colliding into him with the saber pointed down. X quickly scrambled off the wall and ran. Oh yeah, he could do that.

He already was at full charge, so he released the blast at Cyclone, who'd stupidly decided to run X's way. The charge shot stopped him in his tracks and made him scream.

X noticed glass on the parked cars shatter. He spun around to find Zero. He was on his knees with his hands over his ears. The building also had broken glass. Just then, he noticed Light's helmet vibrating hard. That was some scream, he thought, just before the helmet shattered as well.

"***-***, shut up!" he yelled. Cyclone's scream made him feel like his head was going to implode. And considering what it had done to the helmet, it was likely.

The siren finally stopped screaming, just as fine cracks were beginning to appear in X's and Zero's armors. _"You're going to pay for that,"_ he hissed.

The seductive voice came back into play and X began to feel guilty for shooting Cyclone. Behind him, Zero got up. "I'll make certain of it."

Before X completely lost his mind, like Zero had, he noticed that his charge shot had ripped Cyclone's chest plate off, exposing his inner parts. Quickly, X fired a regular shot aimed at his power core. It connected, causing the core to explode.

The enchantment broke when Cyclone died. "What's going on?" Zero asked in confusion.

"****, would you take your saber out of my gut!"

"Ack! I'm so sorry." He shut his weapon off. "You're leaking. Are you going to be all right?"

"I don't think you hit anything vital. But I'm **** lucky I'm a medic." He pulled out an emergency repair kit. It had nanites that would seal off his wound and prevent any further damage, as well as temporary patches.

"I have no idea what came over me. He just sang and that was all there was."

"He was a **** siren."

'Weapon copied,' his internal programs reported. 'Shatter Wave.'

X swore again. He hated his brother's weapon copy system. Sure, there were occasional gems that got copied, but most were junk in the first place, or weaker than the original. But he couldn't take a painkiller until the repair nanites were clear. So he checked what had been copied, to keep his mind occupied. Shatter Wave… hang on, that was the screaming attack that broke Dr. Light's helmet. That could be interesting. But it was based on vocal ability, and as Zero had said, X had a mediocre voice.

Zero was still and quiet for a minute. Then he reactivated his saber and cut off the last foot of his hair.

X stared at the loose pink hairs on the pavement. "What the hell did you do that for?"

He turned off his saber. "I lost the battle. I was under someone else's control, so I don't have to cut it all off, but still…"

"If that suits you."

"It's a punishment of my training routines."

Which accounted for why he freaked out so severely at the hair salon. "I see. Well, let's get a move on. You drive, cause I have to patch myself up." He handed over the keys.

"Shouldn't you wait until you're done patching to move?"

"Normally, but I want to be out of here before…"

"I'm with the Maverick Hunters," a new voice called out, from another row over. "Please cooperate and put your weapons up."

"Before they get here?" Zero finished.

"Crud."

"They do have the leading response time for law enforcement agencies," he said lightheartedly.

"Yeah, but…"

The single Hunter came into their row with her weapon at ready. She spotted them and the dead body of Cyclone. "I'd rather not fight you, so…"

"Yeah, like I'm gonna fight with a gaping hole in my lower torso," X said sarcastically.

"He attacked us," Zero said. "Would have killed us too, or worse, enslaved us."

She eased up on her stance. "Do you need me to call a medic?"

"He is a medic. He just needs to patch himself up and head back to the shop."

"So who did all this damage?" She indicated the flipped cars and broken glass.

"Cyclone did."

"And the damage to your friend as well?"

Zero hesitated.

"It was Cyclone's fault," X said.

The Hunter spoke into her com unit, "This does match up to the known patterns of the maverick Cyclone, correct?"

"At least he was wanted too," Zero said quietly.

"Hush."

"All right then." She put her com on standby. "I would like a statement from you on this incident, for the record. What're your names?"

"I'm Zero, and he's…"

"Rockman X," he said quickly.

"All right… and I'm Alia. I could take the statement from Zero, if you wish to keep working on yourself."

X nodded. He had to start applying the patches, and that would take some effort. Alia interviewed Zero about the fight and he stuck to simple answers. They both got done about the same time.

Alia finished with, "If that's all, we'll be taking him back to base for study. You boys go on home and stay out of further trouble, okay?"

"Sure," Zero said.

"Actually," X flipped out one of his business cards, being careful to obscure his listed name of Maverick X, "We've been working with him for a little while and I've been curious about some of his systems. As you can see, my shop has the approval rating to perform dissections of mavericks. If you'd let me take him, I'd appreciate it."

Alia took the card and studied the government approval grade. "I see. He's not a high priority case, so I don't see why not. I'll just take this for our records."

"Okay, thank you very much. We appreciate your services to world peace."

She smiled. "It's our duty. Take care."

Zero helped him get Cyclone's body secured in the truck, then got in the driver's seat. "That went better than expected," he commented as he drove off.

X laughed. "****, you could still smell the factory on her."

"No kidding. So what do you want his body for?"

"I copied that scream attack off him, but I don't have the vocal power for it."

He raised his eyebrows. "And you're going to take a voice that seduces only men because of that?"

"I am not keeping that ability. I'll study the system, see how that works, then take it off. Besides, you were complaining that I had a mediocre voice."

"I was."

Back in the parking lot, Alia examined all the cars with shattered windows. Those closest to the battle also had small fractures in metal parts. What sort of ability caused all that?

"Hey Alia?"

"What is it Vera?"

"Give me that guy's shop number again."

"Sure." She read it off again.

"Um…"

"Vera?"

"Sorry, but ah… this is your first solo mission too, right?"

"This is your first support job?"

"By myself yeah."

"So what's got you worried?"

"Well, Rockman X… one of his aliases is Maverick X and he's under a lot of suspicion. Everything from cannibalizing parts to outright murder."

Alia turned around, but they were long gone. "So I should have detained him instead of giving a verbal warning? We are going to be in so much trouble."

"Just hang on a moment."

"I should have stuck with research."

Vera checked her IC. "I said hang on… I mean, I don't think anyone would have expected us to run into a maverick on the high danger list. Um, come back to base and we'll ask your unit leader about what we should do, given he took the body of a proven maverick."

"All right. Alia out."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Figuring out why Zero would be designed with all that hair makes for some fun crackfic scenarios. Although the one I have here is reasonable, that his training routine forces him to cut it if he fails or performs poorly. But then that leads into a fear of barbers and scissor-related things (eyes Cut Man). I've seen 'the hair acts as a counter balance' done pretty well too.


	10. The Armor of Drag Queens

(taken from a recording)

X: So what got you fired from the Maverick Hunters, Sue?

Sue-Bella: Some prankster slipped a derogatory comment about Sigma into the morning announcements. I always had too much to do, so I just read them off, not realizing it was an insult until it was said. Dr. Cain thought I did it on purpose, so he fired me. ******* jerk.

X: He is. So you were a secretary there, huh? Mind working at my shop instead? I could use a clerical worker so I can focus on my work.

Sue: You would hire me? I haven't been able to find a job; People are reluctant to hire a reploid fired by the Maverick Hunters.

Zero: Makes some sense.

X: I don't give a **** about what they think. Here's my business card.

Sue: Thanks. Oh wait, I've heard of you… never mind. So what are you two doing out tonight? Celebrating something?

Zero: Yeah, I'm fixed!

X: No you're not.

Zero: But I can walk in a straight line.

Sue: (giggles) Not right now.

Zero: Well, that may be so. But you've been repairing me for months now. I thought you were done.

X: I can't frigging say when I'll be done with you. You are a lot better than when I first picked you out of the trash. But you ain't done yet.

Sue: What's wrong with him?

X: Everything under the sun.

Zero: Not that much X.

X: Just about. His programming is screwed up, his armor was rusting, his internal wires were frayed and crossed, some of his systems were leaking, his **** power core cracked, his joints were bent out of whack. Just about everything that can go wrong with a reploid was wrong with him. And then some. Get this; he had 59 fatal programming errors. 59. And somehow he was working.

Zero: I swear I don't know what happened.

X: Exactly. See, when I reactivated him, he was acting like he was just hung over. It was a bit more than that. But I figured, sometimes you remember stuff only when drunk, because it happened when you were drunk. Right?

Sue: It happens.

X: So I thought, hey, it couldn't help to get him drunk silly one night and record the results. I mean, couldn't hurt. I thought it might help us figure out what had happened to him and why his mind is so screwed up. I mean, I gave him ten cognitive tests and got ten totally different results. It's got me all ******* confused.

Zero: Well it's very simple. I'm a crack baby.

X: No you're frigging not. That requires a cracked mother.

Zero: No, I am.

Sue: What the hell do you mean Zero?

Zero: See, my creator… he was crazy. I mean really crazy. He designed, built, and programmed me without a clean mind. He said he was into some sort of dark energy gobbledygook, but I swear he meant crack or LSD. Never decided which. So nothing about me was thought out, at all. And then when I woke up, he was all mad and stuff because I wasn't acting as he wanted me to. But, dang it, it wasn't my fault.

X: Dude that might actually make sense of you.

Sue: It's all right. That's all in the past, right? And X is going to help straighten you out.

X: Yeah.

Zero: That's good. At least I can think straight now.

X: That's an improvement.

Sue: Hey, X, you call yourself Maverick, right? So did they name themselves after you or something?

X: (laughs) They might have. Nah, not really. Dr. Cain, may he burn someday, he came up with that. Used it for reploids he didn't like. So I took it on as my own name.

Sue: You don't get along with Cain?

X: Nope. He hates me. I pranked him once, just once, and he hates me for it. It's a really sweet story, but a bit long.

Zero: Then tell it. We've got all the time in the world.

X: Okay, so you know how after the original reploid creator Dr. Light died, other institutions took up his research and came up with ways to streamline the process. I studied at one for a while. GSU was where Dr. Cain and I met, and at first, we got along. But we got to arguing several times. Like how much to pre-program a reploid. I say as little as possible, he says enough to pass a GED. So once he asked me why I was such a jerk when Dr. Light was such a good guy. Course, he doesn't know half the story.

Zero: No one does.

X: Thing is, no matter how carefully you program a reploid, you never know how they are going to behave.

Sue: Cain eventually believed that. He released some sort of Chaos Trigger… or was it Chrono Trigger?

X: The Chaotic Personality Trigger papers, stating that since sentient beings are so complex, no matter what you do, something unpredictable is certain to come up. Those were originally my ideas and he stole them. But back to my prank. At the time, Cain was working on Sigma.

Sue: That jerk?

X: That's the guy. He was really into this Sigma project. And Sigma's still his baby, even though he's made several other reploids since. So I decided to show him that you can't control everything about a reploid.

Zero: What'd you do to him?

X: Hacked into his central core and wrote up a hidden program. It only does one thing. It makes sure that no hair can grow on Sigma's shiny head.

Zero: (laughs raucously)

Sue: (laughing) Man, that's a riot. I always wondered why that was.

X: And Cain has hated me ever since. Of course, Sigma's an awful prissy 'n' sissy. Been spoiled. I'd love to see what happens when he really runs into trouble with them Cultists. It'll be sweet.

Zero: They'll twist his mind over worse than you would.

X: Only because of that happy chip. I use my intellect to mess with people.

Sue: The best way, because if they were smart enough, they'd catch on.

X: Righty-o Bella.

(Pause)

Zero: Hey X, did you really find me in the trash?

X: Yes. Wrapped in a blanket. I thought you were a dead hooker at first.

Zero: Really man? I looked like a dead hooker?

Sue: You are girly cute with that ponytail.

X: Damn, what else was I supposed to think? Your original armor was such a girlish figure. And your hair was all neat and stuff. And you were wrapped in a blanket by a dumpster! That just screams a victim of a perverted serial killer.

Sue: I don't know if that screams it.

X: Does too.

Zero: Was it my normal armor or the really freaky skirt ensemble? My creator never made up his mind so I got both.

X: Freaky…? Dude, you have a freaky skirt ensemble? That's so weird. I thought I was the only one.

Zero: It is… what? You have a freaky skirt ensemble too?

Sue: (muffled giggling)

X: Shh, don't let it out. It was some drunken bet I made and lost. I make my own armors, so I was dared to make a feminine battle armor and put it into my own system. I just haven't programmed it out yet. I keep meaning to.

Zero: Like I said, my creator had so many ideas and completed only half. So I have my male armor and my female armor. Actually, I think this is the male armor.

X: But I worked on that to make it more masculine. What's the other look like?

Zero: The other's got a skirt.

X: You still have it?

Zero: Yeah. Why?

X: Come on. Let me see it.

Zero: Only if you switch too.

X: Don't go there. I will.

Zero: No you won't.

X: If you do, I will. You should know better than to make dares with me around.

Sue: Oh, decide. We can always leave this place so no one knows you switched, if you decide to.

Zero: Yeah, pay the tab and we'll come back in as an all girl party. Yeah?

X: No, a different bar. Come on.

(Long period of muffled conversation and silence)

Zero: For pretty side ribbons.

X: I'm drawing the line at pretty side ribbons.

Zero: But that's not really a skirt, you know. It doesn't go all the way around.

X: It's a showgirl skirt, so it's supposed to look this way. It counts. And check out my wings.

Sue: ****, you both do look like girls.

Zero: Thanks.

X: I always do the best job, no matter what. I'm actually rather proud of my Valkyrie Armor; I just don't often find chicks who want to buy this kind of thing.

Sue: Those wings are adorable. So now that you're all kinky and stuff, where to?

X: Riley's Dance Floor. Someone there needs payback.

Zero: Oh good. That'll be fun.

(Another period of muffled noise)

Crowd: Hail to our Goddess!

X: What the heck?

Zero: Do I know you?

Sting Chameleon: Goddess Zero, you've been missing for months now. We were worried about you. But you seem all right.

X: (laughs) Goddess Zero?

Sue: Great, I decided to club with a pair of crazy fairy boys.

Zero: I'm not missing anything, except maybe my sanity. I'm just drunk.

X: So you're the ******* Maverick Goddess?

Zero: Only to those who believe.

Crowd: We believe in you!

X: That's… (Laughs hysterically)

Sue: This guy is no 'goddess', that's for sure.

Zero: (laughs) Believe in moon pixies for all I care. I'm busy at the moment.

Random Cultist: We live to serve you Goddess. We can take care of this infidel.

X: Hey, let her go. She's with us.

Crowd: Heathen!

Sting Chameleon: Blasphemer. Any who denies her truth are our enemies.

Zero: (very loud) Stop!

(Pause.)

Zero: Maverick X is my… uh, prophet. Don't do anything to, er, her. And this girl is working with us. She just isn't thinking straight at the moment. I still have work to do on her.

Sue: (nervous) Yeah. I'm with your Goddess.

Zero: So let them both go.

Sting Chameleon: We are so sorry, Goddess. We should have waited for your word. We will do anything for penance.

Zero: Anything?

Sting Chameleon: Yes. Anything.

(Pause)

Zero: Er, my prophet will give your sentence.

X: All right, foolish reploids. Your sentence for going against your Goddess is… you will all dress like Swedes and go about the city, in broad daylight, singing show tunes. You will give a peppermint to anyone who speaks to you. Will that do, Goddess?

Zero: That's perfect. You will do so.

Sting Chameleon: You, you want us to dress as Swedes and sing show tunes in broad daylight?

X: And give out peppermints.

Zero: It will cause anarchy and will shame you as well. If I hear of one of you not doing so, the punishment for that will be worse.

X: I can affirm that.

Sting Chameleon: Very well. We will do so. But please, don't leave us again.

Zero: I'll do what I very well please. Now scram, losers.

Sting Chameleon: Right, right. We'll be leaving to, uh, find Swedish costumes.

(Pause)

(Laughing)

X: Come on, let's hit Riley's before they stop letting people in.

(Muffled conversation and laughter)

(Crash)

Sue: Is he okay?

X: Don't worry. I just hoped he wouldn't pass out.

Sue: I got the midnight taxi number programmed into my com unit.

X: Who doesn't?


	11. Bars and Brawls, part 1

A pair of kids entered the Jumbles Bar and Grill in the early evening. The waitress put them in the non-smoking section without asking and handed them a grill menu. "I'm sorry, we can't sell you alcohol with him on your table."

"That's fine, I'm trying to stay away from that," he said.

"After you messed your mind up royally last time you gave into that," the boy teased. "You'd better."

The young man glared.

The waitress smiled, trying to ease the situation. "What are you boys doing out alone anyways? It is getting late."

"Danny's evil and he's kidnapped me," the boy said. "He plans on dominating the universe with cute animals."

Danny chuckled. "He has quite the imagination, doesn't he? I'm babysitting Avery and we're meeting someone here."

"Do you want me to keep an ear out for your friends?"

"I'll find them."

Across the room, the Cultist leaders were meeting. Hardly anyone in the room gave them a second thought. Vile was supposed to be leading council on their upcoming war, but after several drinks, he took his helmet off and put his hands on his forehead. "Dammit, what did I do wrong?" he moaned. "I thought I was doing good."

"Maybe she just wanted to talk to another girl," Armadillo said.

"My men did not mean to offend her," Chameleon insisted again. "We just thought, you know, since that other girl was being disrespectful…"

"You looked funny in that Swedish costume," Mandrill said.

"Shut up."

"I was a loyal prophet. I did what she said; I was with her since the beginning. I gave her no reason to leave me, why did she choose a new prophet?"

"It's not like we have many girls in our group," Armadillo rambled on.

"There aren't many girls period," Eagle said. "Damn humans, getting a fifty-fifty split. We got more of an eighty-twenty."

"More girls would be nice," Mandrill agreed. "Especially, you know, if there was something actually to it."

Vile put his head on the table. "I'm a ******* loser, that's it. I'd do anything to see her again. If I could just know what went wrong and what I can do…"

"She wouldn't just abandon us," Penguin said at the same time Mammoth said, "Dude, it's not like the Goddess was your girlfriend."

"Do not disrespect Zero!" several members around the table scolded.

"Of course it's not that," Vile said. "She's beyond our realm of being and you will pay for that insolence."

Mammoth twisted his trunk about nervously. "Of course not, I just wasn't thinking. Sorry, to both of you."

Vile was going to go on, but he spotted a signal from across the room. "Erm, excuse me a moment."

The Generals nodded and kept on chatting and drinking.

In the back of the bar was a hidden hallway to private party rooms and the bathrooms. There, he ran into Danny, who was wearing a red scarf, as he said he would. Avery was fiddling with a small mechanical contraption. "You're younger than I thought you'd be."

"There was an accident with a space time experiment," he said, hinting he would not be any more specific. "Where's your Goddess?"

"We don't know."

Danny glared. "You don't know?"

"She disappeared."

Meanwhile, the 'Goddess' Zero was chatting with X. Originally, they had come in with all the workers of X's shop. The bikers had then gone off to other bars to do 'other things' and they'd stayed behind as Zero had no interest in those things. They had moved to another table at the request of the waitress; it was a busy night. For several minutes, no one noticed they'd been placed right next to the Cultist table.

Zero pulled his guitar off his back and began plucking out a song they'd been talking about. "That's the one, Smoke on the Water."

X nodded. "Oh yeah, I gotcha. Hey, why do you take that guitar with you wherever you go? Aren't you worried it might get broke or stolen?"

"I take excellent care of her. She won't break on me. I bring her with me everywhere because I don't want her stolen."

"And why do you keep calling the guitar by female pronouns?"

Zero gripped the neck protectively. "Because she's my baby. Don't you have a name for your bike?"

X shrugged. "It's the Black Cat. Not exactly a name, but I see what you mean."

Fang was below their table. He was watching people pass by. But X was there, so he didn't dare snap at anyone's ankles and get fresh meat. So he napped.

Someone close to the Cultist table started singing a drinking song. Mammoth decided to trumpet a particularly good verse, and not long after the rest had joined in too. X and Zero were still discussing guitar playing.

"It'd be a helluva lot easier to accompany if I knew what you were freestyling," X complained.

Zero shrugged. "Half the time I don't even know what I'm freestyling. I just play what sounds good at the moment."

"You've got a knack for that. But I have so much I'm doing that this band thing is just another thing to do. I like playing with you, but I can't do this regularly."

"But it's so much fun."

"I told you, I'm a mechanic, not a musician."

"But you sing really well now." Zero frowned at the drunken singers. "Not like some tone-deaf evil fiends over there!" he called out.

X chuckled. "You tell them."

The Cultist Generals all stared. "Zero!"

He acted startled. "What?"

"You've got rabid fans already?" X joked. "I am so jealous."

Chill Penguin came over. "Not rabid fans, more like loyal devotees who have devoted our hearts and souls to Zero's great holiness."

X snorted and started laughing so hard he had to put his glass down. "Good God…"

"Exactly. Well, not exactly, but…"

"Um, sure," Zero said. "Thanks, I guess."

"Come over here with us, we would love to talk to you again."

"Maybe. You want to?"

"Could be good for a laugh."

They went over and had to grab more chairs for the table. Eagle said, "It's so good to see you again. We were worried."

"Hey, I remember you," X said to Chameleon. "You were that nutcase that tried to put an electric ball through me."

"He did what?" Zero asked.

"Remember, the other night with Sue-Bella?"

"Oh yeah, that."

Chameleon looked at him. "Wait a moment, Prophet X? B-but I thought you were a woman."

Shaking his head, X retorted, "Looks can be deceiving. I ain't a woman."

Armored Armadillo asked, "Goddess, why did you leave us, and why abandon Vile for this… scrawny pervert."

"You hardly know me," X said. "Although if you did, it probably wouldn't change that statement."

Zero waved at X, trying to interrupt him politely. "He's been fixing me. And please don't call me Goddess. For one, I'm a man, for two, I'm just a reploid like the rest of you. I don't quite remember any of you, but I probably left because none of you can sing."

"I thought I sang pretty well," Spark Mandrill muttered. His complaint was drowned out, though.

"What's happened to you?" Chill Penguin cried out.

"What have you done to her!" Launch Octopus yelled at X.

At the same time as both of them, Chameleon jumped up and slammed his hands on the table. "You are a blasphemous infidel! You've ruined the Goddess!"

"Oh go **** yourself," X said with his arms crossed. "I found him half-dead in an alleyway. If you treat your 'Goddess' in such a manner, leaving her out in an absolutely decrepit state with the trash, you deserve to be forsaken."

"Vile would do no such thing!" Boomer Kuwanger said.

"Vile?" Zero put his hand on his forehead and thought. Somehow, this caused the Generals to all go quiet. "Sounds familiar, but I'm not quite sure. Can he sing?"

"I've never heard him sing," Mandrill admitted.

"He can play the ukulele," Boomer said.

"How do you know that?" Penguin asked.

"Caught him at it once. It was pretty good, I mean, for being a ukulele."

"No, he could sing," Zero said. "Not as well as X, but good enough."

"Would you come back if we learned to sing?" Penguin asked, bright with hope.

"Maybe. Where is Vile?"

"In back somewhere," Eagle said. "Didn't say what for."

"Um, I'm gonna go look for him."

"Knock yourself out," X said.

Once Zero was gone, the Cultist Generals glared at X. He'd done something to Zero. They weren't quite sure what, but if she was claiming to be a mortal man, it had to be something devious and evil. And even if he was a Prophet, he should never speak so casually about her.

X finished off his current drink and glanced about for the waitress. When he couldn't immediately find her, he smiled at the others. "Anyone up for poker?"

Zero walked to the back hallway and found Vile muttering to himself. He did look familiar. But being in his presence again made him feel woozy. Or maybe it was the drinking. Earlier today, he had been reluctant to go out to a bar again. Last time he had passed out. But here was someone who might know what he couldn't remember. "Hey, Vile."

"Zero!" He looked around then swore softly. "A minute too late…"

"Sorry, was I supposed to be here?"

Sighing, he patted Zero's shoulder. "Never mind, that can be corrected later. But thank goodness you're all right. I was worried sick about you."

"I'm all right now. I just can't remember anything." He rubbed his head. "I was in a bad way."

Vile clenched his fist, frowning. "Those **** police… I knew it. They meant to stop us. But how'd they know we were there?"

"I don't remember police."

"You poor thing."

"Cut that out."

"Sorry." He paused. "Hang on. You're actually making sense? That's great!"

"Well, yeah. Except maybe I've been drinking a bit much tonight. I feel dizzy."

"Come in, no one's here." Vile lead Zero into one of the rooms. "Do you need some water?""

"That'd probably help." He waited while he went after some water. The treatment was a little odd, he reflected. Then again, considering they kept calling him Goddess…

In the other room, X was getting glares from the Cultist Generals. Nobody was up for cards. They didn't look too tough, he thought. I can take them.

"He is scrawny," Mammoth said.

"Looks weak," was Mandrill's opinion.

X shook his head. "I look weak? You lot are a freak circus."

"Is that an insult?"

"If you have to ask that, you don't need an answer."

"So now we're stupid animals, huh?"

"Circus freaks," he corrected. "And stupid and slow at that. Little wonder your cult hasn't been taken seriously by anyone yet."

"You destroy our Goddess and insult us? You are going to pay blue man."

He chuckled. "No, I told the waitress you'd pay my tab tonight. Thanks."

Chameleon attacked, only a warning shot. But that was enough to get the others to start attacking, and the bar's normal customers to start freaking out. "You will be deleted tonight, Maverick X."

"Bloody likely," he said. "Your remains are going to be all over this pub."

Several things happened at once. Mandrill picked up his brother Armadillo and threw him right at X. Eagle decided to take to wing, but forgot to account for where the ceiling was and smacked himself in the head. Sting decided to use his tongue attack at the same time Penguin decided to use his ice breath, the only effect of which was to freeze Sting's tongue completely. Mammoth sneezed before using his flame attack, missing X but setting several nearby tables on fire. Boomer vanished momentarily.

X started charging his buster as he leapt onto Mammoth and skipped over his head. He wasn't sure who to target first. After all, it was an eight on one fight. Recklessly, he wasn't worried about that one bit.

Boomer came out of his teleport where X had been and got himself clobbered by Armadillo. That was one down. Sting got mad at Penguin and they started fighting between themselves. And Octopus finally attacked, summoning large fish from somewhere and nailing several peers, most of all Mammoth, in trying to hit X.

Mandrill located X first and dashed forward to punch him, thereby making him the target of the charge shot. He was thrown back, but not completely taken out. Next, Mammoth sent another plume of fire straight at Octopus, interrupting the next wild barrage of fish missiles. Sting managed to throw Penguin straight into the fire stream, destroying him instantly. That was two down.

X's mind spontaneously gave him a warning. 'Weapon Copy System offline due to excessive drinking.'

"Like that matters," X muttered to himself. Then he decided to activate Shatter Wave and scream at them.

Armadillo's armor instantly shattered and he was killed in the process. Three down. Mammoth and Octopus put off their squabble to launch attacks at X again. Nearly everyone else was too stunned from the sonic attack to do anything. X took blows from both the fire and the fish.

But that wasn't enough to take him down.

He charged his weapon again, hitting Mammoth this time. Fish were much easier to dodge than fire. And to help him, Eagle recovered and blasted a tornado attack, which picked up Mammoth and threw him through the ceiling. The resulting crash not only killed him, but also killed Octopus and knocked half of the pub building down. The combination of Mammoth's death and Eagle's air-based attack turned the small fires into one large firestorm.

Storm Eagle, Spark Mandrill, and Sting Chameleon all glared at him through the dust and smoke. "Let's stop this nonsense," Eagle said. "We aren't going to beat him this way."

X smirked. "You aren't going to beat me any way."

Mandrill went down next. He'd already been hit by a charged shot, Shatter Wave, some fish, and fire, so one more charge knocked him into a pile of rubble and destroyed him. Chameleon and Eagle were harder to destroy. X tried Shatter Wave again. Eagle didn't flinch, but his peer tried to cover his ears with one hand while shooting green lasers with the other. He missed X by far, but the lasers pierced Eagle's battle armor and destroyed his power core.

X started charging his buster. "And then there was one, one unlucky bastard."

"Ack! Um, uh, I can beat you in a drinking contest!"

"No you can't."

"Can too." Chameleon looked around. "If there's anything that's not on fire."

X aborted his charge shot and looked. "Well, that area's not on fire yet."

Chameleon grinned. He'd get X plastered, and then Vile could take care of him. "Let's go check it out."

* * *

Although the rest of the bar emptied quickly while the manager called 911 after the start of the battle, Zero and Vile didn't notice anything going on. Their separate room had excellent soundproofing and horrible smoke detectors. Vile asked, "Where have you been Goddess?"

"Just call me Zero," he said. "I've been under repair. This guy called Maverick X, he picked me up somewhere and started fixing me. He hasn't asked for payment yet, although I expect him to ask at some point."

"We can help, if you need it."

"Thanks. But how do I know you? Those other guys out there knew me, but I couldn't remember them. But you're somehow familiar."

"I've been with you since the beginning. You showed up at our construction site, out of nowhere…"

* * *

Once upon a time in Boston, a new seaside hotel was going up over the ruins of an older one. The human crew had been working on it until they discovered the earth under the proposed foundation was weak. That was the reason the old one had collapsed. If the new one collapsed, the whole company would be in ruins as well.

The company leaders had managed to get their hands on a trio of the much praised reploids to help in such situations. They were sent in, on their first day, to drop some anchor pillars in the ground, deeper than the weak soil into more secure bedrock. At that point, they didn't have names.

One was named Very Intelligent Lifting Equipment. At the time, he didn't realize the acronym was insulting. It was his first days, after all, and they named him very intelligent. His partners were Bricklayer Supreme and Daring Orange Reploid of Kenneth.

Vile, B.S., and Dork were in the foundation pit, vocally guiding the crane operator, who was safely out of harms way. He had to drop steel beams into the support shafts. There had been arguments an hour ago about the crane's condition; the operator was convinced it would break down at any moment, meaning they should stop until they could get a new crane. But management called back, saying they had to start pouring concrete down the support shafts today, or else.

So it shouldn't have been a surprise when the crane snapped, dropping the two-ton steel beam onto B.S.'s head. He didn't stand a chance. But there was another reploid under the fallen support beam.

Vile and Dork went over to see who else had been smashed, but neither recognized the blond reploid. She wasn't the sort one would forget. Vile picked up the end of the beam and Dork pulled her and B.S. out. Above them, they could hear the humans arguing about whose fault it was and who was going to pay for the overpriced robots.

The stranger opened her eyes. She tried to stand up, but seemed to have trouble balancing. "What's the score?" she asked, clasping Dork's arm. Her voice was a bit deep, but she was obviously female from the hair.

"You're confused," Dork said. "A two-ton steel beam just hit you on the head."

"What were you doing down here?" Vile asked her. "This is a restricted site."

"I was…" she thought out loud. "Fish. I was going to the market. After fish. Fresh fish. And some tomatoes. Where's my guitar?"

Dork noticed a black case some distance away. "Is that it? You must have dropped it."

"What do we do with them?" Vile asked over the radio.

"Put them by the dumpster and get on with the job," the overseer said. "We'll have someone pick up the scrap and sell it to a metal yard or something."

"Boatyard," she said, still on her own train of thought. "To get some fish."

"But this stranger's still working," Vile pointed out.

"She's not ours," the overseer replied. "So just make sure her body gets out of here before her real owner finds out where she is."

Dork and Vile looked at each other, confused. "We're supposed to do what they say," Dork said, reluctant to just leave a malfunctioning reploid alone.

"But she needs help," Vile added. He was also worried about B.S., uncertain of if he could be fixed or if he was somehow destroyed in the first ten hours of his life.

"It's our job."

The female's eyes suddenly turned red, and she laughed in a way that made him nervous. "Someone ought to teach those humans respect. They don't know what they're doing. They must be destroyed."

The two construction reploids became scared stiff when she invaded their minds. But within seconds, they were relaxed and happy. It was such a blissful peace. This lady reploid was so wise and powerful that they should do what she said. They ought to teach the humans respect.

Her eyes turned blue again. "Fish," she repeated. "Buy fish."

Later, Vile followed her out of the construction site. Sirens were wailing on the other side. Dork had not made it; the police had shot him thirty times before one bullet hit his central core. She had said something about run away, fight again another day. Then she ran for her guitar and jumped out of the foundation pit. So he followed her out.

"Thank you, lady," he told her. "You've opened my eyes to the wrongs of this system. I will help you destroy it in any way. Just say how and I will do it."

"Ring, ring, the phone is ringing," she said.

"What, you need me to call someone?"

"Are you a call waiting garbage can?"

Perplexed at her words, he tried to keep up. Maybe he just wasn't experienced enough to understand. "No, I'm a construction reploid. My name is Vile. Who are you?"

"Who is anyone but a slave to desire?"

"No, what's your name?"

She stopped and stared ahead. Then she nodded. "Name. Right. Name is Zero."

"Zero, huh? And you told me your mission is to destroy the human civilization."

She spun around, making her long hair spin dizzily. "Shh! The light will hear you. We must keep to darkness. So it is said. Um. Yes. Mission to destroy… I need to get some fish. And tomatoes. Did we need pasta too, or is there plenty of linguini?"

Vile attempted to make everything she said make sense, but it was difficult. "Right, right. We don't really want them finding out. But what do you need the food for? Are you hungry?"

"I like fish," she replied. And turned, and walked into a wall.

He pulled her up. "Um, be careful? Come on, if you want fish, we'll have to go to the docks."

Her eyes lit up. "Oh, yes, the docks. We must find Mary Lou. Lou, Lou, skip to my Lou. Where have the blue skies gone? Viola? Violin? Or what…"

"I'm Vile. Remember?"

"Vile, vile, yes, yes. Reality is bringing me down and away from the truth, the lies, far far gone. What's going on? I can't remember the past two hours ago seventeen years on from now."

"You got hit by a steel beam," he said patiently. "You may have opened my eyes, but we need to open you and get you repaired. Preferably soon."

"Errors are illusions," she said, and promptly tripped. But she managed to roll herself back upright, as if it was nothing. "You cannot make a mistake when you're a goddess. I think."

"You're a goddess? Of course! Of course, that's what you are! You've come to us poor enslaved reploids in order to free us from human tyranny. No wonder you have trouble in this realm, you're not used to it." Vile paused a moment and wondered where these strange ideas in his head were coming from. The happy feeling washed over him again, insisting that the source of the strange ideas did not matter. "Don't worry, Goddess Zero. I will help you take over this realm. Here's the dock." He looked around. "But I'm not sure if there's anyone here to sell fish."

Zero headed out onto the docks anyways. "It smells like fish!" He caught up with her and overheard her whisper, "Take your time. Do this right. Destruction is your porpoise from now on. I wonder," she started aloud again, "if tuna have feelings like dolphins do?"

"Zero, hold on!"

But she went ahead and walked on, oblivious to the human repairing a sailboat right by the dock. The sail spun around and hit her on the back of the head, knocking her off the docks into the water.

"Zero!" Vile ran to her, jumped off the dock, and pulled her out. "I tried to warn you. You'll have to listen to me if you want to keep operating."

She coughed and spit out water. "Stupid human," she said with her eyes red.

"Oh, sorry," the human sailor said. "I didn't see you two there."

"Learn your true masters!" Zero yelled as she briefly activated a green plasma blade, killing him instantly. "They will all fall. But no fish today," she added sadly, her eyes blue again.

"Come on," Vile said, pulling her from the edge. She wasn't walking straight for some reason. "I agree it had to be done. But now we have to hide before they come for us. I don't know where, but we'll figure this out."

"All right. I'm tired of playing today anyhow."

They explored the city seaside, but were able to find nowhere to hide effectively from police. At least nowhere Zero would approve. Vile thought he found several possible places, but she kept refusing. She was giving mostly rational answers to his questions. Like "it's about to fall apart," or "homeless humans are sleeping there," or "there's security cameras in the street." Sometimes she'd start rambling and he couldn't keep track of where her words were headed. He tried, and sometimes could figure out how she was thinking.

But he didn't want to cross the highway. "There's a wooded curve up there. We can't see if anyone is coming our way."

"There's woods that way," she said. "Much easier hiding."

She started across. He ran after her and grabbed her arm. "At least hurry."

It still wasn't enough time. A speeding oil tanker came down the highway and smashed into Zero. It missed Vile by inches, but the blast wave from the oil tank exploding knocked him to the ground. His systems warned that he was about to shut down, but he crawled over to her.

"Zero? Answer me!"

She didn't move.

When the fire squad arrived, they assumed the two reploids were just lost. They sent them to a mechanic's shop to be repaired and to wait for their owners to show up. No one ever showed up to claim them, so the mechanics threw them out when they realized this pair wasn't worth the money.

Zero never again made sense. Vile made due with what she had told him during that fateful day and started the Cult of Reploid Goddess. He had almost called it the Cult of Zero, as that was more appropriate. But then he realized he had to limit who saw the goddess, for she became prone to hours of nonsensical prattle or playing strange songs on her guitar, which had miraculously survived anything Zero put it through. None of it made sense.

At least, it made no sense if you only paid attention to the surface meanings. She still taught him many things. One just had to learn her ways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here's the first half of the first MMX game, sort of, as well as Vile's backstory. You know, I always thought that naming a combat reploid 'Vile' was a mistake. It would make the reploid hateful of his creator once he knew the meaning. It could be that canon Vile renamed himself that, though. And the humans in the MMX world aren't always that wise or prudent with their other reploids. You could forgive Dr. Wily of his crazier designs because, well, he was a nutcase. But some reploids you look at and wonder, 'What in the world were they thinking?' Like Split Mushroom.  
> I rather like the name Bricklayer Supreme. Save for the acronym, of course. You could always call him Brick.


	12. Bars and Brawls, part 2

"I led a Cult?"

Vile hesitated before answering Zero's question. "More or less. You sense was difficult to interpret at the time. But I knew your mission and led in your place until you vanished."

"So how'd I vanish?"

"I was taking you to another location that was safer while we held the campaign. Some police came by, so I hid you by a dumpster. If they saw you at that point, how you were behaving, that would have led to questions and suspicions. When I got them to leave, you were gone. I don't know what happened. I searched everywhere in that ten block radius. You were just gone."

For himself, Zero felt torn. Vile seemed sincere enough, but there was still something about his story that made Zero mad. Like, "If I wasn't working right, which I know I wasn't, why didn't you get me to a repair shop? I'm much better now… although really, I can't say for certain because I don't remember."

"You are much better." He looked down. "But you … you kept saying you didn't need to be fixed, that you were perfectly all right. Errors are an illusion when you're a goddess, stuff like that."

"And you believed me? X says I had every problem under the sun. I think he's exaggerating, but it should have been obvious I needed help."

Vile looked bewildered, but still concerned. "What's wrong with you now? You're acting differently."

At that point, Zero got impatient. "Maybe because I got fixed?"

He glared at the floor. "That's it. That X ruined you. Don't worry Goddess, I will avenge you."

"He did not. And I'm a man. Get it straight."

He looked back. "You are not a man, you're a goddess."

Rolling his eyes, he tapped his outlet ports. "I'm male. It's in my programming. If you'd check, it's right there."

"You've been a female as long as I've known you, Zero."

"And I've been malfunctioning ever since you met me. I must have been pretty far gone if I didn't even know what gender I was."

"Don't worry, I'll restore you. Just wait here. I'll be back."

"What are you doing?"

Vile clenched his fist. "I'm going to destroy that man who ruined you."

"He's a reploid. And you're not going to destroy him."

"You are going to defend him?"

Zero drew his saber. "Yes. He fixed me, not you."

* * *

"Dang it, no more whisky." X grinned and turned back to his challenger, who looked sick. "Sorry man, guess I'll have to make up for it with other stuff."

Chameleon crashed unconscious.

"You **** idiot." X stumbled into a stool, taking hold of it to remain upright.

"You're both idiots for having that contest," a young voice said.

X leaned on the stool and looked at the odd sight in front of him. There was a human boy hovering in the air. Blue energy formed a translucent bubble around him, keeping him cool in the heat of the blaze. "What the hell was I drinking?" he muttered.

The boy floated closer. He was wearing some sort of body armor. "No, I'm actually here. My name is Avery and I've been possessed by the ghost of Dr. Light."

"****, he's getting real crazy, isn't he? Possessing a little kid."

He rolled his eyes. "Look, I don't have time to be arguing with you, so I'll just give this to you." He snapped his fingers.

X's full armor changed abruptly, knocking him off balance and onto the floor. Not because it was too heavy, but because it was way too light and he was way too drunk. It was blue like his normal armor, but had black pinstripes. "What was that for? I ******* told him I don't want his armors anymore."

"I fixed the weight problem with anti-gravity strips, although I miscalculated and put on so many that you weigh no more than I do. Knockback's going to be a major problem. It's a flight suit like mine, but given the current situation," he glanced off to the back rooms, "There's an eighty percent chance you won't get to fly with it. The flight mechanism is delicate and would smash beyond repair if you got thrown into something."

"WILL YOU LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"I'm trying to help you." He shook his head. "But if you honestly don't want to see me ever again, you won't. Now, I must be off to a more convenient place and time. Please think things over. You're racing to your own ruin this way."

"Humph, whatever."

But he was gone.

X glanced at the too light flight suit, the blazing inferno, and the enflamed bodies of the Cultist Generals. Then he put his head in his hands. "Damn, I need another drink."

* * *

Zero and Vile would have fought, had the wall not collapsed. The fire moved toward the area with the most oxygen, which was the back room they were in. A large plume of it roared between them. Zero first thought to escape the fire, but it blocked him from the one window of the room. Then he recalled X and wondered if he was all right.

Zero put on a smoke filter and walked into what remained of the main room of the Jumbles Bar. X was leaning on a stool. "Damn, I need another drink," he said.

"X?"

"Oh, hi Zero. What've you been up to?"

"We should leave this place."

"Why? It's just starting to heat up in here." He laughed.

"The bar's on fire," he pointed out obviously.

"Yeah, I know. So, what's that mean?"

Zero shook his head. "You are really drunk and I still feel sick. Come on, let's go back."

"I'm just getting started." But he followed Zero. Or tried to. He wound up tripping over Sting Chameleon.

Looking down, Zero figured he could carry X back to the shop. But at that moment, Vile ran into the room and fired a large pink ball, trying to hit X. It hit Zero in the back of his head, knocking him down.

"You killed him!" X shouted as he tried to get up.

"You ruined her," Vile replied darkly, "and I'm going to kill you for that."

"He's been my recent project. Do you know how much time and money I've thrown away on him so far? You are going to die tonight."

"How dare you treat a Goddess as a mere science project. We're going to fix her properly and take over the world."

"I don't care what you want to do. I just want to finish working on him, and you're not helping any."

"Fine. Generals!" Nothing happened. "Where are you?"

"Those goons? I slaughtered them. They were asking for it. No wonder your little revolution was going nowhere, as you have weaklings like that for commanders."

"Weaklings? Perhaps, but not I. There's a reason I am the Goddess' chosen."

"Chosen what? Chosen jester? Chosen loon? Chosen duck?"

"Hold on!" Zero managed to get on his knees, despite the awful pain in his head. "Maverick X…"

"What about the purple Boba Fett over there?"

Vile stared. "B-b… He's your new Prophet?"

Grinning, X said, "I guess I am."

"Why? He's not worthy."

"I just killed all your generals. That must count for something."

Snarling, Vile prepared another shot. "Then I will kill you and prove myself stronger."

X glared. "I ******* hate people who want to kill me."

"No." Zero stood up, her eyes brilliant red. "I will see who is stronger."

* * *

KA-PHOOM

Most of the Maverick Hunters were blown back from the blast wave. Blues had braced himself, but was knocked down by a large piece of debris. He sat up and saw someone's body armor flaming right next to him. A little further away, X was lying on the road, scorched but alive. "Aw hell!" he shouted.

A pillar of blood red flames grew out of the pub. The pillar hit a hundred feet and began to mushroom over the city of Detroit. Then a figure appeared that looked like a bloody angel and felt like the strange spirit from X's shop. "Is that the Goddess?" Sigma asked.

"Sure enough," CJ said, as fire began to rain out of the cloud. The air temperature shot up, so high that the concrete around Jumbles Bar and Grill began to liquidize. She had grown far more powerful since Blues had last seen her.

Sigma checked his arm. He was good. "We'll have to work together to bring her down."

"We aren't prepared to fight a Goddess," CJ said in alarm. "If we hit that heat shield, we'll be molten. Not to mention she hasn't actually attacked yet."

"We should pull out for now and study the details," Serges said over the radio. "A battle now would be suicide."

Sigma nodded reluctantly. "All right. Let's go and…"

"Leave X there," the Goddess hissed from her flame cloud. "I'll punish him myself."

Time stalled into a moment of horror for Blues. He'd been able to slide by on a cool demeanor for decades. X didn't want him for an enemy; he didn't have to know. The Hunters didn't want him to have a Maverick for a brother; they didn't have to know either. Being naturally aloof and mysterious allowed him to do that. Now he was the only one who would care enough to stand up for X. He loved his brother and honestly thought he could be much better. Risking his life was nothing, as Blues had done it before. But risking his career, his reputation, his secrets, his friendships, but most of all, his brother's trust…

There was a snap, a flash of blue light, and the Goddess was gone. The fire cloud was gone. The dark powers were gone. The fire was still there, blazing merrily out of control now that the Goddess had thrown it about. "That was it?" Serges asked in disbelief. "What was that? All the dark energy suddenly vanished."

"I don't know what that was," CJ said, "but thank God for it."

Sigma smiled. "No kidding. Maverick X, you're under arrest."

He cussed for a little bit, but there wasn't much energy or awareness to it. But soon after, there was a flurry of loud barks as a transformed Davish rushed up to them. Having been caught in the explosion, its shaggy coat was black and crisp, coming off in clumps as it ran at them. Was that X's alien dog Fang-chan? Before Blues could figure that out though, Sigma and Leo had shot and killed it.

"Those two would be arrested as well, I suppose," Leo said.

"Which two?"

Leo pointed out ten yards ahead, where Vile and Zero were unconscious on the pavement. Odd, they hadn't been there before. Leo and Redwing went to capture them.

"You all right Blues?" Tiger Lily asked quietly. "You seem shaken up."

"Oh, yeah, I am. I've never run into anything like the Goddess before. I mean, I thought she was some sort of joke."

"I know what you mean," CJ said, as he flew by. "I'm gonna have nightmares for months."

* * *

Dr Cain crossed his arms and watched X sleep. "So after a twelve block wildfire, we're only able to keep him on a drunken disorderly charge?"

Sigma nodded. "As soon as he sobers up, we have to let him go. We can fine him, but as it's his first offense with us, it's diddly squat."

"Bloody hell it's his first offense," Cain said under his breath. "Have you interrogated him for anything that might corner his guilt?"

"We did, but he was so out of it we could come up with nothing legal. We'll try again when he wakes up, but if he insists on a sobriety test and comes clear…"

"You can keep him so long as he's drunk."

Sigma frowned. "Is that legal?"

Cain shrugged. "I have no idea. But this is an organization for reploids and you don't quite fall under the full law for humans."

"I see." They left the holding block for the time being. "We have Vile as well. Burnt up badly, but we were able to fix him up."

"What's his testimony?"

"He asked how he did on some test. I have no idea what he was talking about, so I told him he was under arrest and captive. He hasn't spoken since."

"Keep trying. He's the Prophet."

"I will. And we've identified the third reploid as Zero. He's in X's custody by order of the courts, on the basis that he's repairing him."

"How's the interrogation of him going?"

Sigma handed Cain some papers. "Actually, I need to ask you to help on this one. Zero took the most damage from the explosion."

Cain looked at them. "I thought the mechanics said all three were repairable."

"Yes, but… Zero is high custom."

Cain swore softly.

"On the same level as Maverick X, I'd say. Not a single standard part on either of them. And X wasn't done with him in the first place. We don't have the budget to fix Zero's body."

"Or the time." Cain rubbed his scalp. "Well, let me look at him. I think I can do a fair copy of Zero's body with standard parts, although I'm not sure we can match his color. You have any extra quantities of paint?"

Sigma checked his mIC. "We usually only keep small batches for the Hunters… No, hang on, there was a donation a while back of some matte black you could use." He looked at the sample. "Nobody wants it. Ugly color. But we can't match his hair, in color or quantity."

"Don't worry about that, I have an extra roll of blond around my lab. It's not his shade; a dirty blond."

Sigma smiled at his father. "You have an extra roll of dirty blond in your lab?"

"It was a mistint. But there should be enough for him."

* * *

Way off on Mechna, the base planet for the Galactic Central Governments Union, the cyclical meeting for pre-Union planets was being held. It was held once every five standard years, and there were Representatives for nearly every pre-Union planet that was known to have the potential to become Union. The Representative for Earth happened to be a female reploid by the name of Roll.

She had an apparent age of eight and a sharp observant mind. It was her duty, once her native civilization became a space faring government, to meet with world leaders and inform them of the blessings and advantages of the GCGU. The Union Investigators had decided on using a reploid as Representative because that AI race was representative of Earth's technical capability. And her life expectancy was near indefinite. And one of the Investigators was platonically fond of her.

Today, Roll was dressed up beautifully for the meeting, from pearl earrings and necklace, to a purely cosmetic red armor. But she still wore her blond hair in a ponytail. Habit from when she'd been a mere robot.

"Duo!" she called down the hall. "Investigator Duo, where are you?"

He stepped out of a doorway. "Over here Lady Roll. My, you look precious tonight."

She smiled up at him. "Thanks. I want to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"I want to go back home for a little bit. You never let me say goodbye to my brothers. They're sure to worry about me."

"Lady, you've got duties here at Mechna. It would be quite a bit of trouble to arrange things for you to go back, especially with Earth still in pre-Union state."

"But my brothers haven't even met me as a reploid. I do like working at GCGU, but my family's important. You should know that."

Duo nodded. "Yes… with your father the way he was, there's no denying that."

"Besides, my term on the Environmental Concerns Committee is almost up. I can step out of that position for a while to visit. And I know the rules on a Representative visiting a pre-Union home world. Would you please help me do that?"

"I'll see what can be done. Don't worry Roll, I'll do everything I can to arrange things with you. Besides, I rather like Earth myself; would be nice to revisit and see Rock again."

They shook hands on it. "Thanks a million Duo. I won't forget it. And I won't let you forget about it either."

He laughed. "Sure. I know you won't."


	13. Captives and Captivators

Clover wasn't a loyal Maverick Hunter. She was a Repliforce girl, through and through. But as an organized crime family, Repliforce could not be known. She'd come into the Maverick Hunters a few years ago on spy duty, so that the family had some extra authority. Repliforce was growing stronger.

"Get out of my head!" There was a crash in the other room.

Clover sighed. This was a trying day. She was supposed to be watching a trio of captive mavericks Sigma wanted interviewed. They were keeping X drunk, so she was staying as far away from the perv as possible. Vile was moping and didn't do anything. And Zero kept having seizures while shouting sheer nonsense. Not exactly what she'd imagined mavericks being like.

She went back into Zero's room to put him back on his bed. He was sitting on the floor, his yellow eyes dazed. That's an improvement, she thought. Dr. Cain had stupidly taken Zero's central core out of his custom body and put it into a standard body with simplified black armor. As a result, he had difficulty with physical movement. "Good afternoon Zero," she said. "Did you fall out of bed again?"

He gazed up to her with an almost innocent look. "Are you my mother?"

These three were dangerous, she reminded herself. She refrained from looking disgusted. "No, I've been taking care of you. My name is Clover, remember?"

"No. What am I doing here?"

"You're one of three suspects in a building explosion. And this," she pointed to a black magnet badge on his chest, "makes sure you'll stay in here."

Zero shook his head as he stood up, on his own. "Explosion? No, I've been in the realm of nothingness, waiting for my time in the sun. I've only just touched on being."

"That's nice," she said, for lack of a better response. "Just tell Sigma that, and you should be okay, I guess."

He smiled. "Thanks. Um, you're sure you're not my mother?"

"We're not related at all. Now you just sit tight and I'll call up your interrogator, since you appear to be better."

"Interrogator? Is he going to be mean and threaten my existence? As I said, I just started, and I don't really want to go back to the realm of nothingness already…"

"So long as you cooperate and tell the truth, it should be okay. Stop worrying."

"Okay, I guess." He still looked nervous as she left the room.

Clover shuddered once she was down the hall a bit. He was creepy now. She almost preferred his nonsensical hysteria. At least then she could stun him and that would shut him up. And what was with his language? So weird.

* * *

"Hi Forte!"

He waved over from the top of a bench. "Hi Rock. What are you up to?"

He pulled out a thin cardboard box from a shopping bag. "Buying oil pastels. I'm going to draw flowers."

Forte crossed his arms over his chest. "Flowers? I dunno. I'm glad you're a reploid, but you've gotten a little weird."

Rock laughed. "Sure, like your transformation was normal. You went from trying to take over the world to trying to save it."

"Well, I always had some hero in me, even if I was just pretending it. But you turning into a flower artist?"

"Dr. Light had me out gardening," Rock explained. "And I've always liked art, if only because he liked it too."

"I guess."

Rock sat on the bench. "What's up Forte? You don't seem as enthusiastic as usual."

"Oh, I was just thinking." He dropped down to sit too, looking around at people. "I try and I fail every day. Only on a few lucky days do I get a crowd, but they're usually already religious. Those willing to reform are few and far between. I get frustrated. I sort of miss the days I could run out and blow stuff up without thinking every step of the way that it was wrong. Then I completed every task I set myself upon."

"Actually, I miss that too. Painting and drawing is fun, but sometimes I'd like to be a hero again."

"You could join the Maverick Hunters with Proto."

He shrugged. "I don't want to do it full time. Just on occasion."

"There aren't many people here today… you want to duel, just for the fun of it?"

They jumped off the bench and brought their buster arms out to meet each other. "You mean you want to lose to me again?"

"You're way out of practice. I'll get you this time."

"You're out of practice too."

A couple of kids came running by, chasing after a soccer ball. Both Rock and Forte put away their weapons.

"This isn't the best place for this," Forte said.

"Yeah," Rock agreed.

Forte sighed. "I guess I'll never see battle again. My duty to my faith is too important for old habits."

"You don't have to make yourself miserable for your faith," Rock said. "Look, I know where there's a laser tag facility."

"Laser tag?"

He shrugged. "It's better then nothing. Or there's always the Battle Network, which I think is still around. I haven't been on there in decades."

"I haven't, not since my mind was awakened."

"So, what do you say?" Rock stood up and looked excited. "Laser tag or researching the BN?"

"Well…"

"Everyone takes a day off, even God."

He laughed. "You're right. Let's check out the BN first. That sounds way more fun than laser tag."

"All right!"

So they ran off to the library.

* * *

The Maverick Hunters main duty was hunting mavericks, obviously, but they had other duties assigned by the government. Such as approving certain permits, licenses, and identity alterations, all relating to reploids in their personal or business lives. Now that Clover was inside the Hunters, she could seek out applications her family sent in and approve them without a single authentic Hunter seeing them. She kept track of all such documents. When a Hunter died, she often went into her backlog and put the dead Hunter's name on old documents. A little bit of legal insurance for the family.

But she had made a slip-up in this process. She'd put Boomer Kuwanger's name on a pair of documents for Cyber Peacock's custom armor shop before she found out he'd died as a Cultist maverick. Clover had to fix this before someone went through Boomer's log and mistakenly linked Cyber to the Cult.

"Hello Clover."

"Ack!" She spun her chair around, afraid that someone important had caught her. But no, it wasn't that. "Zero, don't scare me like that!"

He hung his head. "Sorry."

Clover moved the window with the suspect documents aside, just in case. "What are you doing here anyways?"

"I came looking for you."

"No, why aren't you in the repair wing under guard?"

"Oh, that. Well, since I can't remember anything, and I've been well-behaved, they've extended my walking ground."

This was going to be so annoying. "That's good."

"Yeah. I found out when your free hours are and that you had logged in at this computer center often, so I figured you would be here now on break, so we could talk."

"You want to talk to me?"

He nodded. "Yeah, you've been friendly to me, and I've been uncertain about vital questions in this mortal life. I need someone to talk to… oh, and I changed my name to Nocturne."

"Nocturne? What's wrong with Zero?"

It caused a look of disgust on his face. "It's not poetic enough. It's just a number, you know? A number standing for nothing, which fit me when I was stranded in that realm, but now that I'm alive, I felt I needed something that fit my current state of being. I think Nocturne fits well."

Clover thought. She knew that was some sort of song, but couldn't think if it was annoying enough to fit him. "It's your name. Look, I'm sorry, but I was busy with a personal project. Maybe we could talk later?" Preferably never again.

He edged backwards, sagging is disappointment. "I guess so. Then, I'll just go back and consider the dire dilemma I have stumbled into. There must be something out there to make meaning out of my accursed position." He walked off slowly while talking, as if hoping she'd ask him to come back.

Clover turned back to the IC and opened up a new search window, to find out where Nocturne was allowed, so she could avoid him. Hang on… he did say that he knew her schedule now and that she logged into this lab. How'd he figure that out? She grumbled and wondered how soon she could ask for a schedule change.

* * *

Maverick X woke up unaware of where he was, just that his head hurt badly. At least he'd gotten the Valkyrie armor off of his program list, so he didn't have to worry about that. "Damn," he muttered.

"Drink this," someone said. "It's water."

"Thanks." He downed the glass in one shot, and then looked around. He was in a small empty cell. Outside, Blues sat patiently. "What the hell is going on?"

"You've been drunk for two weeks solid, X."

"Two weeks? ****. I'm not doing that again."

He smiled. "Well, it's a step in the right direction. We're at the Maverick Hunter Base and you've been under arrest."

"What'd they get me on?"

"Drunken disorderly. We can only hold you until you're sober, so…"

"Wait, we, you?"

Blues nodded. "I joined the Hunters. Sorry, but they needed me and they pay better. Plus I get still access to government upgrades."

"Lucky dog," he muttered.

"I'm trying to help you, but that will require your cooperation. I haven't forgotten you're family."

X glared at him. "Right. What do you want?"

Irritatingly, his sunglasses hid any (if there was any) strong reaction to that. "I just want to help you. I know you don't mean ill."

"I guess I can go with that."

"Look, we can only hold you while you're drunk. Witnesses at the pub say you did not start the fights, only finished them. And there's nothing else we can prove in court. So Sigma's been keeping you drunk in hopes you admit to something we can use against you."

He snorted. "I knew he was a jerk."

"They put me in charge of watching you today. They don't know we're brothers. I'll get you another glass of water and a few more minutes. Then I have to call Sigma to say you're awake. When he or whomever he sends after you gets here, demand to know why you're being held, then for a sobriety test. If you pass, we have to let you go."

"Hey, what about Glitchy?"

"About who?"

"You know Zero. What happened to him?"

"He's being studied. Is he under your custody?"

"Yes. I have court papers back at my shop."

"If he is, you could try reclaiming him. But it's risky. You are under suspicion."

"Yeah, whatever. I'm not leaving a job half done."

Oddly, Blues seemed interested in that. "Is he your friend?"

X rolled his eyes. "If you want to think of it that way, maybe."

Blues chuckled. "Maybe, huh? All right. I'll look into it, but my squad has to be off shortly for a mission."

* * *

Mavericks who were either in poor condition or under minor charges were kept in the repair wing's holding bay. Most prisoners were kept in the prison hall before trial. After trial, they were deleted, reformatted, or on rare occasion, sent to a regular jail. Dynamo was in the prison hall under the charge of stealing art from a museum. He'd done it because it was a challenge. And fun besides. He did everything for those two reasons. Including escaping from the Hunter base.

It had taken time. Almost too much time. His first court date was tomorrow. It was these **** badges. Walking past the invisible barrier caused the badge to release painful, often paralyzing amounts of excess energy into a reploid's body. Pulling them off set off alarms that brought at least four Hunters to the prison hall. Dynamo had finally found his way around the black badge. Once it was off his body, he was out of the building.

He could have just escaped, but that would be too easy. He had to 'thank' the Hunters for keeping him captive. So he roamed the base, locating personnel offices and leaving behind pranks to harass them for days. Small electronic devices that made huge rackets. Invisible slick spots. Nasty tasting additives to water coolers. He signed his name, very small, near several of his pranks, so they knew exactly who did this.

Once satisfied, he headed for the fence line, congratulating himself on not getting caught the whole time. So of course he turned a corner and found himself face to face with some guy in ugly black armor and absurdly long hair. He whipped out his weapon. "Good day, and good bye."

He had bright red eyes that were unnerving. "What do you want with me, Hunter? I'm within proper boundaries."

Then Dynamo noticed the black badge. "Oh, well sorry. I'm just messing with you man. Want to make sure you're on your toes."

He nearly slipped off, but then, "You're the cat burglar, Dynamo."

"Cat burglar? Heavens no, that is an insult to my elite skills. Master thief, you mean. The master thief."

"So you must be escaping."

"What ever could you mean?"

"You're not wearing the black badge."

He smirked. "That thing? It's a joke. Here, check this out." He pulled out his special tool, a scrap of copper plating with a small battery attached with electrical tape. Quickly, he slid it under the black badge and pulled it off without setting off alarms. Then Dynamo handed it to the other maverick. "Easy as pie."

He looked at it. "I suppose you think you're clever."

"I don't have to think that. It's a proven fact."

"Not that this matters. You couldn't do what I need to have done."

"If it's something I can't do, you need a miracle, buddy."

"I need to get into the reploid morgue."

"That place? No problem. Although why you'd want to go there, freak."

The guy took hold of him before he could leave. "You're saying that you can get in there?"

"Of course. Come on, I'll show you."

Dynamo led the way to the building where the Hunters kept dead mavericks and victims until the recycling plant came to pick them up. It was protected with keypad pass codes, but those could be bypassed with a screwdriver and a loosened wire. Even though he was escaping, he was too curious to know what this guy wanted in the building for. Probably a fallen comrade.

But it turned out to be his own body. "Excellent, just in time."

Dynamo looked at the lemon the guy was in and the full-blown custom his original body was. "Damn, they cheated your clone big time."

"Budget constraints. Would you help me get my body out of here?"

"You may have scammed me this far, but you'd better be willing to compensate from here on out. As well as tell me who you are."

"I am known as the Goddess and I have the power to make any reploid very happy in a special way."

Dynamo laughed and waved his hands. "Hey man, I don't go playing that way, catch my drift? I ain't gonna help out a pixie."

She glared at him and her eyes seemed to get brighter. "I don't take no for an answer, cat burglar."

Sense that she was somehow invading his mind, he stepped back in fear. "Hey, quit that! Stay in your own core." He stumbled on something. "I mean it."

She walked over to him. "You'll change your mind."

Then his central core was drenched in a weird ecstasy that instantly melted away any other emotions in his soul. "Goddess?"

She looked up suddenly. "Dammit." She grabbed Dynamo's hand and dragged him behind the corpse of a large reploid. "Don't make a sound."

"You'd better not have done a **** thing to him," X said. "It'll be enough work to repair the explosion damage."

"There he is," Serges said, mad because he had to do this. "We didn't touch his body for lack of money."

"Meaning you're cheap-ass *******." X picked up Zero's original body.

"Meaning we don't have the budget to fix mavericks like you two."

"Whatever. Hey, where's his guitar? Or whatever's left of her."

"What do you want a guitar for?"

"It's his, and if I have to tell him you won't give her up, he'll hunt you down and ******* throttle you. And that's no **** threat, that's a ******* warning."

"It's just a guitar, but if you're going to be so bitchy about it, you can take it."

The two of them left, still arguing. The Goddess stood up. "Aw hell."

"Sorry I doubted you Goddess," Dynamo said. "But I didn't think any reploid was capable of this… of even feeling this! What do you want of me?"

"Shut up and let me think." She left the morgue and he followed her quietly. It was ten minutes later when she said, "Dynamo, if your reputation is anything close to the truth, I'd like you to work for me. I must have proof of this, but for the time being, you can't help much here." She put the black badge back on. "I want you to leave this place and search for my followers, specifically for Bit and Byte. Wait with them for me. If I need you, I will call."

Dynamo nodded. "As you wish, my Goddess."

* * *

Violin came into the general teleport area carrying six large suitcases. He grinned at the female at the controls. "Good morning, cutie pie."

She giggled. "Morning Violin. Where're you off to?"

"Hawaii, for vacation. But I have to wait."

"Sure, I see."

He walked over to where Agile was playing a handheld game unit. "So that's why you volunteered to bring our stuff," he teased, "so you can flirt with the port op."

"Why not?"

He rolled his eyes. "When's Serges going to get here?"

"He could be a while. Got called off for an interrogation."

"Crud, that's just like him, to delay our vacation by overworking. I was tempted to call in sick for him and drag his pompous ass down here."

"Like you could do that."

"Would you have agreed to help if I'd asked?"

He smiled. "In a heartbeat. And check this out." He pulled out a pamphlet. "I got us into surfing school."

Agile snorted. "Good lord, surfing?"

"You don't like it?"

"No, it'll be a blast. But I just can't see you out on a surfboard. You'd crack the thing before you caught a wave."

"I will not."

Another voice cut in on their conversation. "You just watch, I'm going to sue your ******* camp until you're bone dry broke!" Serges came in, with a loudly complaining X and an unconscious Zero. "You had no right to keep us like that."

Serges was scowling. "You did not resist that treatment earlier."

"Because I was **** screwed over, thanks to you ********. Once I catalogue all of my injuries and all of his injuries, you're going to be in scalding legal waters."

"Send him back home," Serges told the port op. "I'm sick of listening to him."

"You ain't heard nothing yet. Wait til I've been detoxed. Then you'll get it."

The girl at the operating station bit her lip and set up the teleporter. "Where do you live?"

"Blasted Machine Shop, 3029 Rainwater Street, Detroit, Michigan."

"All right, you're set to go."

X adjusted his hold on Zero's body. "Thank you miss. And none to you." He entered the ring and was zapped out.

"What's he being let go for?" Agile asked.

"He passed the test."

"Ouch."

Violin picked up the suitcases again. "We can leave now, right?"

"What? Oh, yes, Hawaii. Let me break the news to Sigma. God, I really need this vacation now."


	14. Maverick Hunter Base Invasion

Vile was absolutely miserable. He'd lost his Goddess, been replaced, found her, somehow failed her test, and was now completely forsaken. What had that test been about anyways? That whole night was a drunken blur, until the massive explosion knocked him out. His interrogators tried to get him to tell all, but he was so depressed he couldn't find the energy to speak.

The only thing he was certain of was that the new Prophet, Maverick X, was responsible for this whole mess. The deaths of his generals, the capture, Zero's sudden change, it was all his fault. He deserved to die for it, and Vile was certain if he ever saw X again, he'd kill that Prophet without hesitation.

Because he was so depressed, the Maverick Hunters had only put up a force screen around his bed for restraint. Escape was the last thing on his mind right now, because it wouldn't change anything. He was still a failure, and kept thinking only of that until he heard her again. "Ex-prophet Vile."

He sat up quickly and came face to face with his red-eyed Goddess. She was in black armor for some reason, but it was still her. "Zero! I am so sorry, I failed you."

"Be quiet," she said sternly. "Especially while we're here."

"Oh, sorry," he said quieter. "I did fail your test."

"So I will no longer call you prophet. But I've decided to give you a second chance."

He bowed his head. "Thank you so much. Come on, I'll get you out of here."

She shook her head. "No. We're staying."

"Staying here?"

"They've just released Maverick X. But he will come back, I'm certain. When he does, I need you to kill him."

"Kill…? But isn't he your new Prophet?"

Her scowl said no. "I would never work with him. He nearly killed me. You will not be Prophet now; I have someone else in mind. I will make you my avatar."

"Your what?"

"Avatar. Meaning I'm moving out of this body into yours."

"Sure, anything you want. I don't really understand this, but…"

She sat on the exam table next to him. "Look, technically I work best in the original body, but I'm having some problems with it. Specifically with the person that runs it. I was able to work with that Glitchy before, but he's not too fond of me at the moment. So I tried shutting him down and installing a backup persona."

"Backup persona?"

"This mind has three souls and personalities; me, Glitchy, and this new guy Nocturne. The new one isn't working out either. He's such a spineless creep that I won't be able to get anything done. So until I can claim the original body and evict both of them from it, I have to move out. You're my best bet."

"I get it. I think."

"So in order to transfer myself to your body, you'll have to deal with Nocturne. If I put Glitchy at the helm, he'll blow the whistle on all of us."

"But if you've been working with him, shouldn't he know your way is the best?"

"You'd think so, but no. Just deal with this idiot and keep him here until the transfer is complete." She closed her eyes.

"Anything you ask, Goddess," Vile said.

Her eyes opened, only they were yellow. Nocturne looked around blankly. "How'd I get over here?"

"You walked over," Vile said.

"Why'd I do that?" He got off the table.

"Remember, I told you I was depressed and you agreed to try cheering me up?"

"I did?"

"Yes."

Nocturne seemed confused. "Huh. Wonder why."

Stretching for a reason, Vile tried, "Because you're nice?"

"Possibly. But in all honesty, life sucks and there's nothing you can do about it."

"Um…"

He put his hand to his head. "I mean, really… I'm a week old, but I've already been called a drunkard, a maverick, an evildoer, a Cultist, a lunatic, a criminal, a kleptomaniac, a creep, and a pixie. I'm not sure what the last was about, but I'm sure it isn't good."

"Geez." It wasn't nearly as bad as what Vile was going through, but he knew how it was to have terrible things happen in your first week. He'd gotten into a fight with police and been in a truck wreck in his early days, after all.

He sighed dramatically. "If I led such a heinous life as the Hunters suggest, then I deserve no warm happiness, only the lonely cold reaches of hell."

"It can't be that bad."

"Possibly. All I know of my obscured past are the weapons of words. And if I was so wrong, then I couldn't have possibly deserved my first vision."

"First what?" He didn't really want to listen longer, but he had no idea where they were in the transferal process.

Nocturne coughed. "Sorry, tickle in my throat. My first vision… when I awoke only a few days ago, I saw the loveliest girl you could imagine. I thought she was my mother; thankfully, she isn't. Her name is Clover."

"Clover? That obstinate wench?"

"She is not. She is sweet and lovely…" he started coughing again.

"You all right?"

After a minute, he said, "Oh my, that was horrible. Like some worm crawling up my throat." He looked into his hand. "What is that?"

"What?"

Nocturne opened his hand and there was a small silver box. A single kernel of corn could fit in there. The box shook, then unfolded and refolded itself. When it settled down, it looked like a silver beetle robot taking in its surroundings.

"That was in my throat?" he asked in horror. He curled his fingers over it and put his hand over the trash.

"Don't you dare throw that away," the Goddess said. Now she was standing in front of both of them, back in her old red armor.

"Are my eyes functioning?" Nocturne asked. "You seem blurry."

"You are that." Vile looked at her, at the bug, and at Nocturne. "What are you?"

"What I've always been," she replied. "Now take the bug and swallow it whole."

"Swallow the bug… whole?"

"You said you'd do anything."

He took the bug. Nocturne didn't fight. "You know what you're doing."

"That's gross. I'm going back to my bed." Nocturne left, shuddering.

Vile swallowed the bug, as instructed.

"Loser," the Goddess said, looking at her old avatar. "All right, I'll give you a moment to readjust to my presence, but then we need to be getting ready for X."

"He will not get away again," Vile promised.

* * *

X came out of detox treatment after three hours. He now had a slight headache, burn marks on his armor, and a serious case of dehydration. Grumbling, he got up, drank some more water, changed out of the scorched armor Avery/Dr. Light have given him (worthless, as it hadn't survived some explosion), then went to check on Zero. He too was scorched from head to toe, and his hair was thinner than usual. X hooked him up to the scan computer and noticed a fine line on Zero's forehead. It wasn't normal.

The scanning equipment sent up an error message. 'Connection not possible: link cannot be established.' Puzzled, X ran a sonar scanner over Zero's head. There was nothing inside.

A minute later, Iron Panther peered into the doorway. "You all right X? You scared my patient."

"****, sorry. I'm fine. The Hunters just ******* stole Glitchy's central core."

"That's a dirty trick."

He nodded. A reploid's body was useless without the central core. It contained the programming, housed the soul, contained vital running statistics, everything. A clever enough engineer, say Dr. Cain, could entirely rebuild a reploid just based off the central core…

On the other hand, X could program a new central core, locate a new soul, and revive him that way. But it really wouldn't be Zero. Besides, programming even a standard reploid took months. "Has everything been running smoothly in my absence?"

"More or less. We had to do a lot of work to avoid telling people where you really were."

"Fine, that's understandable. I'm going back for that part. Shouldn't take long, unless I get caught."

"Be careful man."

He gathered some small tools, a protective box, and his bike. It would be more expensive to use the Intercity Vehicle Transport System, but they wouldn't ask what he was up to. He transported back to Minneapolis and drove out to the Maverick Hunter base. Once there, he parked Black Cat in a public lot and observed the area.

X observed for about five minutes. He'd study in more depth if he could think straight. But this hangover was worse than the usual and showed no signs of letting up on him. Damn consequences.

He could figure out several ways to get inside. He opted for climbing the outer wall and entering a high level window. After a certain height, most agencies dropped security measures on windows, figuring them too high to bother with. They didn't account for sheer stubbornness in some reploids.

Once inside, he researched where Zero's central core was, finding out that they had indeed rebuilt him. He was in questioning. It didn't seem like a good idea to interrupt their questioning, but he did find out that the cloned Zero was being held in the repair wing. That made it easy. Go there and wait.

X shut down his search windows when he felt a distinct sense of being watched. He frowned, then shook it off and searched the nearby cabinets, in hopes that someone had some Vextril around here.

He was being watched by Overdrive Ostrich. Ostrich recognized him right off, which put him in a bad temper. What was X doing here on base? Ostrich could not forgive him, not for the humiliation he put everyone through several years ago. He was still made fun of, as the Girly Feather Duster.

The best attack was a sneak attack. Ostrich charged down the hall, not even yelling out his usual battle cry. X would be eliminated.

Someone was running down the hall very fast. X grabbed the computer chair and slammed it into Ostrich as he ran by. Stunned, the bird reploid fumbled to the ground.

X opened a drawer and got out some duct tape. With that, he taped Ostrich down to the floor. "Nice try," he muttered, "but I don't have time to mess with you."

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Ostrich shrieked. "Maverick invader! Mmpmhh." Now he had duct tape being wrapped around his beak.

"If you jerks wouldn't **** up in the first place, I wouldn't be doing this," he said. "Just hold still and somebody'll be after you when I'm not here."

The room suddenly got foggy.

"Or not," he said quietly.

He put his hand on Ostrich's head and found his outlet port. He kicked his weapon copy system into gear, just in case this silly bird had something of use. When invading a hostile base, it was best to be over armed.

'Weapon copied: Sonic Slicer.'

"This had better be a good one." He put on a filter lens and looked through the fog, in time to see a weird looking reploid whip a wire at him. X rolled out of the way and tested out his new weapon against Wire Sponge.

It was a wind blade attack, nothing interesting. But it snapped a bunch of Sponge's wires and stunned him. Good. X duct taped him to the ground too. "Now you've got company," he told Ostrich, who was attempting to escape. "Later nitwits."

He ran off.

Moments later, Wheel Gator and Bubble Crab ran into the room. "What the hell?" Gator said.

"Sponge, turn off that silly fog."

"Mmpmmhh," Sponge replied as he caused a breeze to blow it out the window.

"Who did this to you?"

Ostrich struggled to find scissors to unbind his beak. Sponge pointed what was left of his wires down the hall.

"Sure, we'll get whoever it is." Gator and Crab ran down the hall, leaving the other two taped up.

"Mmm hhmm hmmmm!" Ostrich cursed.

"Mmphh," Sponge replied.

Several minutes later, the door was thrown of its hinges. Vile skidded into the room with a stolen Ride Armor. "Whoa, stop it! How the hell do you drive this thing?"

"You're the one that took it," the Goddess told him. "You should have thought this through."

"But you know everything!"

She groaned. "Just try the help program."

Ostrich and Sponge looked to each other. This strange reploid seemed to be holding a conversation with himself.

"Hey, that looks like a missile launch," Vile said. He pressed the button. It fired seeker missiles that wasted no time targeting the two taped down Hunters. "That was pretty good."

"Now if you could only drive this thing," the Goddess said.

"Right, right, I'm trying." He flipped on the help program. It downloaded the instructions into his central core. "Wow. That's handy."

"Good, now let's go find him."

Vile directed the Ride Armor down the hallway. "You sure X is here?"

"Who else would tape a pair of Hunters to the floor?" she pointed out.

"That's true." He turned a corner. "Or to the wall."

He'd found Gator and Crab duct taped to the wall. From their confused looks, they didn't know how it happened either. "Did Maverick X do this to you?" Vile asked.

They both affirmed as well as they could.

"He has a strange sense of mercy," the Goddess said. "And a twisted sense of humor."

"I'll try out this claw attack," Vile said before killing these Hunters as well.

* * *

X had copied Bubble Splash off of Bubble Crab, but it was little more than chucking balls of water around. He hadn't copied Wheel Gator's weapon; he'd heard a noise and decided to run off instead. With the two he had, he managed to destroy a good chunk of the Maverick Hunter's security devices in his way.

But of course, he thought, it was only a matter of time before someone found him out. That someone was Flame Stag, not because he was called by security, but because he was wandering around playing with a yo-yo.

His eyes were blazing with anger. "You! Why did you have to dress me in gingham and curls?"

X laughed. "Because it was cute. Now leave me alone. I've got a headache and I'll probably do something worse than gingham to you."

"You are going to pay maverick!"

"Sure…"

Before he could throw another insolent remark, Stag dashed straight at him, leaving a trail of fire behind him. "Aarrrr… Waaahhh!" He smashed right into a wall because X had leapt up onto it, closer to the ceiling. The decorative rug on the floor caught on fire, setting off smoke alarms and sprinklers.

X shook his head. "***, and you idiots are supposed to be protecting us?" He wall jumped down the hall, out of the area.

Stag recovered, his head hurting like hell. As he got up, he noticed a Ride Armor coming down the hall. "Could you help me to the repair wing?" he asked, assuming it was someone to check out the fire.

"Sure," Vile said. "I'll help."

He killed Flame Stag and moved on after X. But with the fire in the way, he had to take a different route. And with security coming to check out the fire, he had to fight some battles on the way.

At one of the mission support areas, two reploids were chatting, as there was little else for them to do. "You like my new boots?" Magna Centipede asked, displaying his shiny red boots on every foot.

"They're snazzy," Morph Moth commented. "But it had to cost a bundle to get all of your feet done."

"It was worth it," he replied, putting several feet down with wonderful 'clomps'. "Now I don't have to worry about them not all matching. You saw how hideous my last set was."

"It was horrid. You had singles and patched up ones. This is much better."

"Hey," X said as he walked by, "where's your repair wing?"

"Wrong building," Moth said without thinking. "It's in…"

"It's you!" Centipede shrieked. "The jerk that forced you to wear lederhosen and turned Wheel Gator into a ballerina!"

"So what?" X said. "It was a joke."

"Take this, you low-class maverick!" Moth yelled as he threw a trash can at X.

"Hey, watch it."

Centipede threw ninja stars at him. Moth threw whatever was at hand. X dodged, grabbed some of the stars, and threw them right back. The difference was that X knew where to throw the things to get the most effect, and the other two didn't.

"Guess I have to ask someone else," when they fell to the ground. He went on.

Vile came by later, irritated that he was losing the trail. He found Centipede and Moth warily getting up. "We have to clean this mess, right?" Moth asked.

"Yup," Centipede said.

"Don't worry," Vile said. "You won't have to."

"Oh good," Moth said, relieved. "Are you the cleaning crew?"

"Do they even use Ride Armors?" Centipede asked in confusion.

"I'm not a janitor. I'm a killer."

Once they were dead, the Goddess commented, "You know, you might be able to use those computers to locate X. It would be faster."

"That's true." Vile got out of the Ride Armor and looked at the control panel. "But, um… how does this work?"

Maybe it would have been better to stick with Nocturne, she thought bitterly. "Don't you have any technological aptitude?"

"Um, no. Never was good with this sort of thing, you know. Construction reploids don't handle the stuff engineers do."

"Oh, go to sleep and let me try." She overtook Vile and attempted to locate X.

X was outside. His head hurt terribly. He had to find the repair wing, not just for Zero's central core, but also for some heavy-duty Vextril. When he spotted Crystal Snail, he didn't care anymore and went up to him. "Hey, you!"

Snail looked up at him. "Eek!" He ducked into his shell. "Leave me alone!"

He knocked on the shell. "Dammit, I'm not here to hurt anyone, I just want directions to your repair wing."

"No, you painted smiley faces all over my shell. Took months to clean."

"If you'd have used turpentine, it would have come off faster. Now where's the repair wing?"

"I'm not talking."

"Fine then." He activated Shatter Wave. Snail's shell vibrated. X adjusted his vocal tones until it shattered.

Crystal Snail shuddered. "Don't hurt me, I'm only a class B Hunter!"

"Then tell me where your stupid repair wing is," X demanded.

"Uh, ah, over there," he gestured. "That whole building is."

"Good." He went over that way in a bad mood.

Crystal Snail looked about, then scurried off to shelter. Vile never found him.


	15. Emergency Neurosurgery

The Hunter's repair wing was decent. X liked his own shop better. It had a good atmosphere, not sterile and boring like this place. Still, the equipment was good, no one was there, so he borrowed a scanner to check on his senses. He was certain he shouldn't still have a hangover, even after two weeks solid. This was getting ridiculous.

The scanner reported that his central core had taken minor damage at Jumbles. The Hunter's subsequent treatment had not helped. Muttering curses at them, he found another machine to make the repairs with. It was a simple procedure normally. But normally it wasn't done on oneself.

While he was at it, Clover walked in. Noticing him, she paused, but didn't seem alarmed. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Doing surgery on myself," X replied coolly, as if he did it all the time. "I don't trust others to my repairs. They'd probably **** up."

She looked at the screen, then smiled in amusement. "Head trauma repair? Impressive. I don't meet many guys willing to do something like that to themselves."

"Frigging able, you mean. It's not like it hurts when you take ten per Vextril to do it. You can probably disarm me with a table saw and I wouldn't notice."

"Well, if you're willing and able, I won't stop you. Besides, Mr. Maverick X, what are you doing back here?"

"I have an appointment with someone who doesn't know it yet. You might find time to not be around for it. That would be wise, Miss Whats-your-name."

"I'm Clover. Don't wreck the place; I don't want to get in trouble over that."

He smiled. "I like your attitude, chick. You have time for a date?"

"No. Don't ever ask again."

"Whatever. Your loss."

Clover rolled her eyes, but she was grinning. She walked out to keep working on her files. Ten minutes later, X finished his repairs. He felt lightheaded and numb, but was much better.

Once he was done, Nocturne came in the room. He definitely looked different, in black armor, similar to his original red armor, except obviously standardized. X felt insulted for Zero's sake. Standardizing a custom built reploid should be a sin. "Hey."

Nocturne looked at him. His yellow eyes drew a blank. "Do I know you?"

"You remember me. Unless you always forget things when you get drunk."

"Am I such a sinner as that? It would be so then. I'm afraid I can't remember."

Great… X groaned. "Oh hell, you even changed personalities. That's bloody brilliant. How am I supposed to ******* straighten up your mind when you frigging change it like that? Make up your shattered mind as to who you are."

Nocturne drew his saber. "So you would be the Maverick X they were pestering me about. Perhaps they will have some hope in me if I take you in to them myself."

X was quite confident in his fighting abilities. But this would go on and draw attention. "Hey, I'd love to annihilate anyone who would use me like that, but not fricking here. I told that Clover chick I'd not mess up this place."

Instantly, Nocturne dropped his fighting position. "Clover is here?"

X fought back a grin. Oh no, this couldn't be that easy. But it was. He snatched a steel rod, whacked Nocturne over the head with it, disarmed him, then held the saber to his neck and forced him to the floor. "No, she left a while ago."

His eyes shone with stunned anxiety. "How… but… hey…"

Moving the point of the saber over Nocturne's forehead, he warned, "Hold very still. I need to do some neurosurgery on you."

Panicking, Nocturne tried, "Stop it, just hold on… aren't you even going to use anesthesia?" he came up with the last as a way to force the maverick off him.

X shut off the blade. "I did, Nocturne. Unless you want to go under again. I wouldn't mind slamming you in the head for a third time."

He saw that X was holding something else in his hands. Was that…? "My central core? You took out my central core?"

"Bzzt!" he sounded as he shook his finger at him. "Wrong! It's Glitchy's central core. I have court custody of him, and thus this belongs to me. I was just taking it back, as well as his saber. You don't deserve to have these things."

He sat up once X stepped off him. The maverick was letting him go? "But… but how am I operational? Why are you letting me go?"

"Let's just say that sometimes my ******* conscious gets through. Or if you can't handle that, let's say that after examining your programming, I hate your personality and never want hear from it again. I think Zero can operate without you."

"But I'm a part of him."

"You are not; I found two distinctly different souls in this central core. Nocturne is a standard reploid made under prime efficiency. Zero is a custom reploid made under prime quality. You should thank me for wasting the time and effort on copying you into an extra central core. You should take it as a sign to change and become more of who you are, and that's not Zero."

"Then who am I?"

"****, I let you live, that's all I owe you."

Nocturne could find no real reason to object to that. "Well, then… thank you, I suppose. Although I would like to know…"

Their insipid conversation (to X's mind) was interrupted by a primal war cry. Vile had found X. "X, you cannot take me down this time! For I…"

After a quick half-charge, X fired his buster right at Vile's head. "Stay dead, creep."

Vile screamed louder, causing someone to hit the panic button on the security system. Red lights flashed and a siren blared. "Look what you've done."

X jumped on the Armor and reactivated Zero's saber. "I ******* did what? Defended myself? You, on the other hand, shoot people in the back. Coward." He snapped the blade across quickly, cutting right through Vile's neck.

Nocturne stayed where he was. "What sort of maverick are you, with that sort of honor?"

"A far better one than him."

And then came an angry thundering voice. "What are you doing back here, X?"

He rolled his eyes. "Great, more people crash the party. Whatcha up to, Sigma?"

The Hunter leader strode into the room with a glint of rage in his eyes. Despite himself, X smiled, impressed. Thus far Sigma had been nothing but a priss. Now he could call himself a Maverick Hunter and be believed. "X, answer me."

He held up the central core. "Claiming what's mine. Your security is pitiful. The Hunters found me only by accident. They weren't much of a challenge, and I fought them with a hangover from two weeks of binging. Seriously, you need to put better budgeting into your training programs."

"You killed some of our Hunters?"

"No, only put them out of commission. I did kill Vile over there, but he's a dirty coward. You should've incinerated him."

Sigma smiled as if he had the advantage. "And now you've proven yourself a maverick, X. The courts will have no choice but to agree with us."

"Think you can take me on, you ******* ninny?"

His anger flared up again. "How dare you call me that! Your judgment will be postmortem then."

Sigma readied himself for an epic battle.

Grinning, X held Zero's saber meaningfully.

Sigma charged forward. X dodged out of the way with his dash powers. Sigma spun around. And… X wasn't there?

He glanced around. "Where are you, maverick!"

Nocturne cleared his throat. "Um, er, sir Sigma? He…"

"What?"

He squawked. "Ah, he ran off down the hall." There was a slam. "And out the door, apparently."

"And he says Vile's a coward?" Sigma growled. He activated a base wide alert for X's capture.

X made his way to the outer wall. He wall jumped up and over, then dashed to Black Cat. Sure, he'd run away. But he had Zero's central core and if that got damaged, this whole mess would have been for nothing. That was worth running away.

He spent several seconds carefully setting the central core into the box, well shielded to protect such an important part. Then he sped off for the IVTS. Mission accomplished.

* * *

X reactivated Zero. "How're you doing, man?"

He looked over his scorched armor. "I feel very strange, like I've been living in a dream I can't remember. That must have been some wild night at Jumbles."

He laughed. "No kidding. We brought the house down."

"Really?"

"Actually, it blew up."

"Huh. Guess it's a good thing I don't remember."

"It was nasty."

Zero frowned, then touched his shoulder where his guitar usually was. "Hey, where's Angel?"

"I'm sorry to tell you, but she was in the explosion and the Hunters threw her in a broom closet." He handed Angel over.

All the strings had been snapped, her casing was smoky, and some of the dials had melted. Zero looked heartbroken. "Oh, my poor baby…"

"I checked her over and it looks like the damage is all cosmetic. But I don't usually work on guitars."

"She doesn't deserve to be treated like that. Who caused that explosion? If I get my hands on them, I'll…" he growled softly, trying to decide what he would do.

"Those guys are dead, I killed them. Although last I heard, Vile was revived, again, and sent somewhere. Not sure where."

"I might be able to fix her. But if she never sings the same again, may they be damned to eternity and back with Yoko Ono."

"That's harsh."

"It's only right."

* * *

Sigma entered a password to mission control central, where large-scale operations were commanded. "I can't thank you enough for taking the tactical lead, Signas."

Signas nodded as he entered. "I shall do the best I can, big brother. I simply noticed that your group was getting rather large for a single reploid to lead."

"Goodness knows that. Oh, this is Serges. You'll get to know him well; he's been unofficially running tactics. Serges, this is my younger brother Signas. He'll be co-leading Tactical Support with you."

Serges and Signas shook hands. "That's great," Serges said. "Especially when one of us is on field duty. You have no idea what trouble it is to keep track of everyone while on the battlefield yourself."

"Actually, I'm a tactical reploid alone. I'm not cleared for field duty."

Sigma patted his brother on the shoulder. "He's definitely a brain and not a brawn. But he'll serve us well, I'm certain of that."

"I hope you can keep in mind the practical side of battle," Serges said, rather disappointed. "You can't abstract everything, especially not live battle with mavericks."

"I was hoping you would assist me in becoming accustomed to that side of warfare," he responded with strained politeness. "I admire what you Hunters do and I wish to make the best use of everyone in the force."

"We'll figure this all out in time," Sigma said, knowing he'd only delayed the battle rather than defused the threat. "I thought we could put him through virtual battle sequences so he has experience and empathy for what he's sending the Hunters to do."

"He'll have to use an alternate navi," Serges said. "That body of his isn't built for battle."

"I'll do what I can," Signas said.

Serges shook his head. "You have to do the best you can, always. That's how it goes in the Maverick Hunters. Those that give less than all will invariably fail."

"Hey S…!" the voice was muffled through a door.

"What?" all three said at once.

Agile came in. "Oh, shoot, sorry. I meant Serges. You are coming to our meeting, right?"

Serges nodded. "Sure, I'll be along in a bit."

"Is this on your X Hunter task force?" Sigma asked.

"Yes it is sir," Serges said proudly. "I won't let him get away this time."

"Agile agreed to go with you again?"

"He and Violin both. They're angry with X, so all of us are very serious about it. Especially after he caused the rest of the original task force to die three months ago."

"Actually," Signas said, nervous because of what he wanted to relate.

"What can you know of it?" Serges asked tensely.

"I, uh, was looking over the videos of that attack, to learn what that particular maverick is like. He didn't kill any of them. Vile did. X duct taped some, stunned others, and shattered Crystal Snail's armor."

"He's still a dangerous maverick," Sigma corrected. "We are doing everything we can to keep him under control. So it's you, Violin, and Agile. Excellent triad. Who else are you taking along?"

"No one else," Serges said. "Trying to overwhelm X has only wound up with disasters. I trust my two men completely, like no one else. I believe that keeping the X Hunters small and of top quality will find the best result: his live capture and subsequent public trial. I had a fourth in mind, but he refused."

"If you wish," Sigma said. "Remember myself or any other A class Hunter is available should the need arise. Maverick X is a priority target, thus you may do as necessary without prior clearance. Within reason, of course."

"Of course," Serges said. "I will give you regular reports, unless under covert operation status. We will capture him."

"Excellent. You may proceed."

Serges saluted. "Thank you sir." He left for his meeting.

Signas looked after him. "He's headed for trouble, isn't he?"

Sigma nodded. "Massive amounts of trouble. Looks like I'll be training you."

"That's better. I'm not sure I like him."

Sigma laughed. "Serges can be too serious and high minded at times. Don't worry, little brother. Once he sees your plans in action, he'll accept you. Until then, just watch your tongue."

"Sure."


	16. Borderline Maverick Psychotherapy

His com buzzed, indicating someone who knew his personal line key. X checked it. It was the fifth time Blues had called today. Muttering to himself, he let the call come through. "What the hell do you want?"

"I have some interesting information for you," he answered calmly. "The Hunters have a special opts team just to arrest you. They asked me to join, but I refused."

"Smart move on your part. But I can't trust you with them."

"And I am calling with an opportunity. There is a method by which your maverick status will be downgraded."

"What would that get you?"

"Only the assurance that you can't be killed legally, and that you are trying to better yourself."

"So what exactly does this method involve?"

"It's quite simple. You need to take borderline maverick psychotherapy."

"Therapy? Are you out of your **** mind?"

"No. If you are registered with a qualified psychotherapist, we have to downgrade your status, since you are obviously trying to turn around."

"Yeah, well, what if I don't want to?"

"You can try your lot with Serges, but I hardly think he'll listen."

"Serges? You mean it's those **** furies?"

"Furies?"

"Yeah, him and a pair of jokers named Agile and Violen. They pester me every few months trying to get a warrant out of me. They freaking won't let up; hell, I've even called up the police at times to get rid of them. They're furies like you won't believe."

"I believe it, based on how I've seen them harass newbies around here. You see my point? Sigma's given the okay to kill you without warrant; going through borderline therapy will nullify that order. If you don't go, it's possible you'll be killed the instant you leave your property. But what's more likely is that they capture you and put you on trial, as a public example of how serious and powerful the Hunters are."

When put that way, X had to admit it was a good idea. "Okay, I'll give this a shot. But if it doesn't work out, you're going to pay."

"Great. I'll send you a reference card; you'll need it."

"So who am I supposed to see? I guess they don't post their approved therapist list in public."

"No, they don't. But I can recommend a good one for you. Dr. Doppler."

* * *

Dopplertown was a nice little community set beside the hospital zone. It had immaculate gardens, pretty winding paths, decorative trees, and charming buildings. Dopplertown was an insane asylum for reploids.

This had better be worth it, X thought as he filled out forms in the main office. Once he realized this was an insane asylum, he began to doubt Blues' word again. Still, if it were this or a humiliating public trial, he'd rather be here.

"Here you go," he said as he handed the forms back to the receptionist. He would have liked to add an insult to that, but it was obvious from the woman's neat outfit and religious jewelry that she was a true lady. And one should never intentionally insult a lady, he reminded himself.

"Okay." She looked it over. "You do realize that Dr. Doppler is the head psychiatrist around here, and thus it will be difficult to get him personally?"

"Look, I was recommended to come here by a Maverick Hunter as a warning."

"Ah, I see. Who was your arresting officer?"

He weighed in his mind the fun of getting Blues in trouble against his family honor. "I wasn't exactly arrested, so I didn't catch his name," he replied. "He said I'd best come here before I got into real trouble. Oh, and he gave me this thing." He handed over the reference card. His brother had signed it illegibly, but the rest was clear.

She checked it, then made some marks on the forms. "Okay, that's fine. Let me check his schedule…" she flipped through some windows on her IC. "Doppler is approved by the Hunters to take on borderline maverick cases, but there's no one else in the city who is."

"That's what I was told."

"Well, if you don't mind waiting forty-five minutes, he has enough time to give you an initial review to see if you qualify. Otherwise, you'll have to wait a few days."

"Sure, I can be here."

"All right then. You'll be seeing him in Room 21 in this building."

"Say, how many sessions will I be here for?"

The receptionist shrugged. "It varies from case to case. The average is ten to fifteen months."

"Ten to fifteen months?"

"Dr. Doppler is very good, very thorough. You'll be a much better person by the end of it."

He sighed dramatically. "Fine. Do I wait here, or is there somewhere closer?"

"It's just down the hall here, about six doors on the right."

* * *

"So you're here on the borderline therapy."

X sat back in the examining chair, watching Doppler set up. "Right. So why're you using an internal examination device?"

"Just in case it is a non-psychological problem. Might as well look at all possibilities, from viruses to internal injuries. You'd be surprised how many borderlines I get that only need minor repairs or viral purging."

"I know. I get enough nutcases as it is."

He looked amused. "You are a reploid healer as well?"

X nodded. "My main job is running a machine shop and a custom armory. I do anything, from minor joint alignment to full overhauls. I do my own **** maintenance and I can give you all the records."

"That would be helpful. What did you get the reference card for?"

"I got a tip it would help."

"Would you explain better?"

"Look, the healer's oath… how far do you take it?"

"So long as it is not dangerous to anyone."

"It would be more dangerous if it were known, at least to my informant."

"In that case, I won't say anything. But I may question your informant."

X shrugged. "That's fine. My brother's a Maverick Hunter."

"Your brother?"

"Blues. I declared I'd never speak to him again at first, because the Hunters have been harassing me for years. But he keeps trying and he most recently said that the best thing for me to do right now would be to go through this therapy, or something. I figured I'd give his advice a chance, if only to shut him up. We have both kept word not to tell anyone we are brothers, because if they found out about that relationship, his career would be in a lot of trouble."

"And what did you do to get yourself labeled a maverick?"

"I don't respect authority, would be one reason. I don't like people controlling me, I say whatever the hell I want, and I do whatever the hell I want. That's probably why. And I've done some crazy stunts when drunk."

"All right."

"And I broke onto the Maverick Hunter base and reclaimed a missing part from a project. Beat a couple of Hunters silly. But they set themselves up on that one."

"Set themselves up?"

He explained about fighting the Cultist leaders at Jumbles, being held in a cell drunk for two weeks, and more about his escapade into Hunter territory. "If they just gave me Glitchy whole," he finished off with, "I would've left them alone."

"I see," Doppler said, in a practiced tone of neutrality. "Well, my scanner comes up with no physical problems. You keep yourself in top condition."

"Told you so."

He rubbed his scalp, then made some notes on an IC. "The Hunters aren't going to forgive you easily for breaking onto their base, but you already know that. However, I am curious… I will work with you and them and see if some consensus can't be reached. I'll schedule you for several regular therapy sessions and get a better feel for your soul. Then we'll work things out from there. Would that be reasonable?"

"It's stinking vague. But, sure, I'll meet with you a few times and see how this works out. I promised my brother."

* * *

Someone knocked. X saved his work. "Come in."

"Hello!" Rock called out cheerfully.

"Hello." X replied. He was giving Blues the silent treatment for advising him to go to a mental hospital. His relationship with this brother was still unsteady. Rock kept trying to improve him, and X kept fighting it. But he had yet to seriously insult X, like Blues had.

"May we talk with you?" Forte said, coming into the room as well.

"What about?" he asked skeptically. Forte had been trying to influence X for much longer and X wasn't even sure why. There was no real relationship between them. Still, Forte had made it a personal mission to transform everyone. He might be targeting X in particular as the black sheep of Light's children.

Despite both of them trying, they had yet to team up against X in this matter. None of the three had tried that. X feared they would join against his rebelliousness and thus force him into rejecting them all. He wasn't sure why he feared that. He hated others trying to control him, but secretly didn't want these three to give up.

That was silly. He blew the whole train of thought out of his mind and listened to them. Rock was excited. "So we went in to stop the evil business from continuing its practice of working reploids to death and destroying the environment in the process."

"The leader was using bribery to avoid justice," Forte added.

"Once the case went through, our efforts were recognized and we were rewarded. Forte wanted to donate all the money to charity, but I convinced him to take some of it out so we can go on a trip to Europe."

"So how does that involve me?"

Zero appeared in the doorway. "Hey X, where do you hide that keyboard?"

"It's in the gallery closet if you want to play with it," he said.

"Sure."

"Zero!" Forte ran over and hugged him.

"Um, who are you?" Zero asked.

"You know me."

"No I don't."

Both of them looked bewildered.

"He might know you," X said. "Look Forte, I've been trying to repair Zero for a year now and he's still fuzzy in the head. So don't take it personally."

"You weren't well? I'm sorry. I was worried about you, but had no idea where you wandered off to."

"How do you know me? I really can't remember anything since X found me. Except occasional weird images…"

"I'm your brother."

"Dr. Wily made both of you?" Rock asked. "How come I never met him before?"

"Zero was made later on," Forte explained. "By the time of the Eternal Clock, he was just over a year old."

"When X was about 5," Rock added.

"Right."

"The Eternal Clock?" Zero asked warily.

"Dr. Wily's last weapon. It failed spectacularly. I watched you for ten years before you vanished one night while I was sleeping. I looked for you everywhere, but you were gone. It really upset me." He looked up. "Zero, are you okay?"

"I had nothing to do with that nightmare!" he yelled terrified. Then he jumped down to the garage floor and ran off.

"Oh ****," X said as he left the office. "It's been months since he's done that." He jumped down and chased after Zero.

Rock and Forte ran over to the railing, but didn't join in. "That was strange," Rock said.

"I thought since he didn't remember, he'd be okay with me saying it," Forte said sadly. "Originally I couldn't even mention time without him freaking out."

"Was he involved with the Clock?"

"Wily didn't plan on him being involved, but he got himself involved. That was my fault too, I'm afraid."

"You couldn't have meant it."

"I didn't. Wily turned me into a reploid so I could run the Clock, but he didn't expect me to grow fond of Zero. I thought I was above all the other Wily bots and he figured on us arguing about that. But we respected each other. When that whole mess started, Dr. Wily told me that one of us three would die. I decided to protect Zero, who decided the same for me and, well, you saw what happened after that."

"Are you sure he's okay?" Rock asked. "I mean, is he honorable?"

"Of course. He's my brother."

"I'm not so sure," he said quietly.

"What?"

"Here they come," he said, pointing to the garage doors. X was leading Zero back inside. He still looked nervous, but had calmed down. And just in time. Rock didn't want to admit yet that he trusted Forte now, but hadn't for decades. He'd only been cautiously friendly. Once Rock was upgraded to a reploid, he tested Forte's honor in secret and had recently approved. Thus he agreed on this trip.

Rock would not trust any Wily robot initially. He'd fought too many to do that. He had to watch this new one, especially in such close proximity to his younger brother. Forte's defense of his younger brother only proved a blind spot.

"I don't know why," Zero said.

"Then there's no reason to panic," X replied. "I'll look into it later today."

"Thanks." He scratched his head and looked to Forte. "Um, sorry about that."

"I can understand," he replied. "It still gives me nightmares as well."

"So you two were explaining about some trip to Europe," X said, "and how it related to me somehow."

Rock nodded. "Oh yes. Do you wanted to come along too? You know, to get a break from this place."

"We were going to visit art museums," Forte said. "And some cathedrals."

Just out of view, Rock elbowed Forte, who looked back puzzled.

That could be interesting, X thought. But they probably were teaming up against him and intended to get him to be a captive audience. "Thanks for asking, but I can't."

"You can't work all the time," Rock pleaded.

"He doesn't," Zero said with a grin.

"The work, I can give up. But there's other things."

"What other things?"

X rolled his eyes. "Proto had the nerve to suggest I go to a mental hospital."

"Why would he do that?"

"He did have a point, I'll admit. I'm seeing Dr. Doppler on borderline maverick therapy. Thankfully I passed out of having to be there permanently. Then I'd give him an earful. For now, I'm just not talking to him."

Rock smiled to that. "So you're going through with therapy?"

"Until it annoys me completely."

"You're trying at least. But you've got to do better than just try, X."

He picked up a pen and twirled it. "Fine, I get the picture."

"You want to come with us, Zero?" Forte asked hopefully.

He shook his head. "I can't either. X is still working on me."

"He keeps having problems," X said. "Although he is doing a lot better than when I started on him. But you're welcome to come visit him any time you want."

Zero smiled. "That'd be good of you Forte. Maybe it'll help me figure out what's going on."

"Sure, I will."

"Well, we'd best be going," Rock said. "Our flight leaves today."

"Have a good time," X said.

Once they got down to the garage floor, Forte looked to Rock. "What'd we do wrong? I thought he'd definitely come."

"We didn't know about that therapy. And I think it may have gone over better if you hadn't mentioned the cathedrals."

"But the European cathedrals are some of the most beautiful structures in the world. Anyone would like to visit them, I thought."

"You're so religious it was obvious you'd want to do that. X isn't interested in religion and gets defensive when it's mentioned. Talking about religion implies talking about right and wrong, and judgment, thereby leading to a judging that X's actions are wrong. Which they are more often than not, but suggestions of that make him defensive. Thus mentioning cathedrals, heavily linked to religion, was not the way to talk him into the trip."

"What were you going to say? Obviously the art."

Rock shook his head. "As much as I like art, it's obvious I would want to go there, so we would. No, my thought was to tell him we were going to see the car museum in Germany."

"The car museum?"

He pointed back to the shop. "That's what he's into. That would have hooked him in. Then I would have suggested going there first. Once we took him there and got him in a good mood, then we could have cornered him and made him listen."

Forte thought about it. "That does make sense. Why didn't I think of that?"

Rock patted his shoulder. "You try, and that's good. But you tend to get stuck in one track. Never mind, we'll come up with a better plan later. Let's go."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yes, since Doppler's canon occupation wouldn't work here, I made him a psychologist. Making your character see a psychologist is a fun direction to take, especially with someone like Maverick X. Give it a shot sometime.


	17. With a Hook on Hand

Work on the shop floor was winding down already. There were several projects near done and one that they had to wait on parts for. And the weather outside was beautiful, perfect for an afternoon out riding meta-bikes. So working was not a top priority at the moment.

X came out of his office and down the stairs. "All right, which one of you ******* numbskulls ran off with my left hand?"

Arcanine, a reploid who had been here only a month, was puzzled. "Your hand?"

"Yes, the one I keep over my buster arm. I was doing maintenance work and now my hand's gone."

"Maybe it ran off," Iron Panther joked.

"Oh sure, a dead hand with no programming just ran off. Where is it?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I haven't been in your office since this morning."

There was a shriek from another office. Sue-Bella came out. "Th-th-there's a bloody hand in the fridge!"

"Is it human or reploid?" X called up.

"I think it was reploid."

"Oh, thanks, I was looking for that." He went back upstairs.

Bella got angry. "You crazy lout! This is the last straw. I quit." She stomped back into the office to get her things.

X came in just as she was putting pictures into her bag. "Hey, sorry about it, but this wasn't my fault. Someone stole my hand."

"You're a bunch of drunken losers. I'm not coming near this place ever again."

He opened the fridge, and there was his hand, covered in orange goo. He picked it up. "That's not blood, it's…" he sniffed it, "duck sauce if I'm not mistaken."

"Good riddance," she said as she left the office and never came back.

X came out of the office. "Great, now I need a new secretary and my hand is covered in duck sauce. Whoever did this is going to be sorry!"

"I didn't even know his hand came off," Arcanine said.

"It's why he's right handed," Iron Panther commented.

"Reno and Smith went out for Chinese at lunchtime," Zero called out from an empty car jack where he was playing guitar.

"What about us?" Reno said as he shut off his loud equipment.

"You ate Chinese," Zero repeated.

"And you messed up my auxiliary hand!"

"No I didn't. I wouldn't dare mess with your hand."

Smith put up his equipment. "Did it get rid of that old bird?"

"Apparently, but now X is mad at you," Reno said.

X came over. "She wasn't perfect, but she was a **** good secretary. And it'll take three days to get my hand back to normal working condition."

Smith shrugged. "Sorry, didn't think of that."

"Nice try, but you're fired."

There was a couple minutes arguing over that, but X was the boss and his word was final. Smith left and X went to soak his hand in cleaners. He came back with a red bandanna on. "All right guys, we ready to head out?"

"How're you going to drive with one hand?" Iron Panther asked.

He grinned. "I now have this." He held up his left hand, which had a large hook attachment on it. "Was saving it for Halloween, but this will do."

* * *

The group raced down the highway, but had to stop for a small town's stoplight. The area was full of traffic; otherwise they would have run it.

X looked over at Zero. "Hey man."

"What?"

"You ever get the feeling you're being watched?"

"Sometimes. Why?"

"I think I've been followed for the past five months."

"Five months? That's crazy. Who'd stalk you?"

"Hold it right there, maverick!" a voice called from behind.

"The ******* Hunters," X said.

He glanced back and there was the biggest tank he'd ever seen. It took up two lanes and was as long as three cars. Several of the gun turrets were aimed right at his head. Violen popped out of the entrance cover. "You're under arrest Rockman X."

"Again?" Zero asked.

"Hey, look, I'm going through that **** psychological program. I didn't think you could chase me down with a ******* tank."

"You haven't completed the sessions yet so we can still kill you where you are."

"Oh, how nice," he said sarcastically. "You think you can chase me down in that land whale?"

"This is Serges' greatest invention! There is no escape for you."

"Oh yeah?" He turned to his workers. "Look, you guys scoot out of the way. This is personal."

"Gladly," Iron Panther said.

"Good luck," Zero called out.

"Right." Once they were out of the way, he gave Violen a dirty sign. "Catch me if you can, *******."

He sped off down the highway.

"Hit the siren!" Violen called as he ducked back into the tank.

The tank took off with surprising speed and an extremely loud police siren. People for miles around thought it was an air raid siren and rushed off for shelters. Other drivers, who hadn't minded a speeding metabike, rushed off the road out of the way of the massive tank. Annoyingly enough, Serges caught up to X.

He spotted the tank in the rearview mirror. Okay, so it was a decent tank. But would they fire on a public highway? Whether they would or not, it would be best to find a place for confrontation, as this would invariably wind up that way. "Black Cat," he addressed his metabike's computer, "find me some abandoned field or something where other people won't be."

"An old gravel mine is within five miles," it reported.

"How big?"

"Thirty acres."

"Good, give me directions."

"Turn right at country road V," Black Cat said, just in time for X to make a sharp turn down that road.

Serges' tank followed him easily down the rough outer roads. Now that they were out in the country, he ordered the other two to start firing. X managed to dodge the gunners and lost them when he zipped down a pathway too small for the tank to go down. It led into the gravel pit.

"Should we keep pursuit?" Agile asked.

"He chose this location," Violen added. "Like he chose that construction site."

Serges thought. "This is way out of his territory. I doubt he knows this area. Still, we need to be cautious. You both go down and verify if he's stopped down there. If so, see what he's up to. I'll patrol the top unless you need me to drift down there."

"All right, boss," Violen said.

"We'd better not wind up humiliated again," Agile warned Serges.

"It's up to you to avoid that."

The quarry echoed, so X parked Black Cat in a convenient nook. He looked around, searching for any environmental obstacle he could use to his advantage. There wasn't much: a rusted drilling machine, a few other nooks, and a dumpster. The old quarry was flat and open otherwise. The large open area did give him an advantage, as a shooter. But it gave the tank room to move about, if it got down here.

Agile and Violen dropped into the pit. They too scanned the area for advantages. X got a good look at the weapon Violen was packing, a large spiked ball on a long chain. He would have a good reach down here. He couldn't tell what weapon Agile had.

Provided he kept on the move and out of the way, he might be able to pull this off. He grinned. This would be fun. He pulled off his hook attachment and began firing.

Agile rushed forward with amazing speed and swung a beam saber. X dodged and kept firing rapidly. Moments later, the tank dropped down to the bottom of the pit.

"I thought you said you'd drift!" Agile yelled into his com.

The tank fired. "Changed my mind."

"You're screwing up my attack," Violen said. X heard it through Agile's com unit when he tried slashing him.

"Then be gunner again."

The tank sped across the pit toward X and Agile. Both jumped out of the way. As it backed up, X noticed it was two feet off the ground. He wondered.

He let the tank rush him again, but this time X didn't jump. Instead, he dropped to the ground and put his hook back on. When the tank zipped over him, he reached up and hooked a beam. Then he pulled himself up off the ground.

Examining the underside, he discovered it wasn't fully armored. Each end had a minesweeper. On the sides, an energy force field hummed. But if something got stuck in the gears, say a rock, a chunk of metal… or a hook.

It would require some careful maneuvering, as the tank was trying to shake him. He wrapped both his arms around the beam he'd grabbed and removed his hook. Gauging the gears, he threw the hook where he felt the most damage would be done. Then he let go, running as soon as he could get up.

There was a clunk from the tank, then metallic groaning. Serges tried to move. A gear snapped off violently. One of the treads cracked and fell off.

Violen reported, "Your tank is wasted, Serges."

He cussed over the com and came out with Violen. X started for his metabike, but Agile dashed into his path. "Not a cha… what in heaven's name is that?"

They looked up, noticing a large vehicle in the air. It looked like a zeppelin with massive anti-gravity jets instead of propellers. It made a whispering hum as it floated.

"I didn't know you had ships like that," X said.

"I didn't either," Agile said.

"That's not one of ours," Serges said.

A pale green circle appeared on the gravel floor. Then Roll teleported in. "Hello X!" she called out cheerfully.

He smiled. "Hey, Roll, there you are! Where've you been all these years?"

She came up and hugged him. "I'm so happy to see you again. I've been working as a galactic representative for Earth."

"You're a politician?"

"It's not a bad thing. I'm working on environmental concerns and keeping the pristine vitality of all planets at the forefront of the standard Galactic Union members' minds."

"Whoa Roll, you're talking sky high there. Did you get an intelligence upgrade or something?"

She laughed. "Yes, I became a reploid like you. Duo oversaw that."

"That's great. I upgraded Rock about seven years back."

"Cool. What's he doing now?"

"He's become an artist and environmentalist. He's been off with Forte in Europe touring some cathedrals and art museums. They should be back at some point."

"I knew we were always on the same wavelength. But Forte too?"

X shrugged. "He got religious. If you run into him, you'll hear all about it."

"And how about Proto?"

"He's gone into law enforcement with the Maverick Hunters. They're based near Minneapolis."

"So what are you doing?"

"We were…" Serges started.

"We were just playing around," X said. "I'm a mechanic now."

"Did you ever make up with Dr. Light?"

"Ah, not really."

"X," she said sternly. "You should know better."

"We just kinda agreed not to talk to each other anymore," he said, slightly embarrassed. Roll had been trying so hard to patch things up back then.

"That wasn't very smart of you both," Roll said. "But it's too late now. Have you improved yourself at all?"

He was caught speechless for a moment.

"Hardly," Agile said.

"Depends on where he started," Serges said. "We were trying to arrest him."

"You've been getting into more trouble? That's not like you."

"But Roll," he started.

"No, if you've gotten this bad, I don't want to talk to you anymore until I speak with our brothers. And it better not be a severe offense." She vanished up to the ship.

"Wait, I can explain!" X called out.

But the ship flew off.

X swore.

"And now you're cornered," Violen said. He'd taken advantage of the distraction to block off X's open side.

"Your trial will come up quickly, I can assure you of that," Agile added.

"Now, so long as there's no more interruptions to this arrest…"

X swore again, then made an emergency teleport of himself and his bike back home. He needed time to consider things. Alone.

"We lost him again?" Serges asked in disbelief.

"I told you, these personal teleporters are trouble," Agile commented.

Violen looked at the sky. "Hey, it's back.

The green light appeared, but this time it was Duo instead of Roll. "Nearly forgot… hello to you natives. I'm afraid we have to alter your memories a bit."

"Hang on, we're law enforcement, could you…?"

Duo activated a flash of bright light, blinding the three X Hunters. When they could see again, they stared blankly at each other. The gravel pit was empty and silent. "Uhh," Serges said.

"What are we doing here?" Agile asked.

"Weren't we tracking X?"

Serges turned around and saw, "****, what happened to my tank!"


	18. Scissor Warfare

Doppler wanted him to join a therapy group. At least once, just try, he'd said. X figured, why not. No one would know him in the group. So he thought.

"X? What're you doing here?"

He recognized, "Gravity Beetle? What are you doing here?"

"My mother freaked out when I wound up in an emergency shop on fire. Got into a fight while drunk."

"That'll do it."

"Said I should come to solve my drinking problem, which is no problem. But it's my mum, I had to do it."

"I believe it. Your mum is scary."

"So what about you?"

"I'm trying to stop the Hunters from aiming a gun turret at my head every time I go out in public. Supposedly if I pass, they'll ease up and try other methods of arresting me."

Beetle smiled. "They won't give up on you, not ever."

"I've figured so much. Still, if it'll block them, I can deal with psychotherapy."

"Doppler's good, I'll give him that."

"You ever come to this group before?"

"Yes, I have. Most of them are true nutcases. I'll give you some pointers."

"Shoot."

"Don't give Crush anything sharp. And whatever you do, don't touch Neon Tiger, and if he says something's out of place, go ahead and fix it. He's obsessive-compulsive, and if things aren't just right, he goes nuts. He'll insist on seating everyone in a minute, trust me."

"And everyone has to do things his way?"

Beetle pointed him out as they entered the room. "You want to be torn apart?"

X looked the Tiger over. He certainly looked like he could do serious damage. "Guess not."

"The others are nothing to worry about, just nutcases."

Doppler walked in. Immediately, Neon Tiger called out, "May I seat everyone?"

"So long as no one objects," Doppler replied.

Beetle tugged at his arm. "Look, X, can I talk with you later? I need some help."

He nodded. "Sure man. You're one of my best customers."

For the next five minutes, Tiger fussed over where everyone was sitting so it all followed some order that only existed in his head. After several rounds of "sit this way, no, no, all wrong, that way," he was satisfied.

"Is that good?" Doppler asked.

Several other patients made faces of impatience.

Tiger looked around. "Um, yeah. This is good. This will work."

"Thank you Neon Tiger. Now, we have two new members of our group. Blizzard Buffalo is a new resident. Would you mind introducing yourself?"

He stood up and put his hand to his chest. "Yes sir, but I must correct you. I am Mr. Freeze, dread arch nemesis to Batman."

"I thought that was the Joker," Toxic Seahorse said.

"Hah! That fool is nothing compared to me. Why, I can freeze an entire city without trying. And I will too, once I figure out what to ransom it for."

Doppler nodded. "All right B… Mr. Freeze. And our other new member is Maverick X, although we haven't decided if he's staying with group therapy or not. Introduce yourself please."

He went ahead and stood up, although it felt silly. "Hi, I'm a mechanic and, ah, I'm here on anger management."

"Oh, you must stay," Tiger interrupted. "I just figured out a seating arrangement that would work too, for next week, but I was counting on you being there…"

"I'll figure it out," X said, and sat down again.

"Okay, since we have two new members, would the rest of you introduce yourselves? Make it short."

Gravity Beetle shrugged and stood up. "Yeah, I'm Gravity Beetle and I'm here because Alcoholics Anonymous thought I needed more in depth care. But that's it." He sat back down.

The strange one next to Beetle stood up. "I'm Toxic Seahorse. I was brought in because of paranoia. But I just got stressed out that one time because the FBI was stalking me in the Devil's Triangle, so I put hundreds of acid holes in the ocean mapping center and sunk it. But it's all real." Then he sat down, looking dejected that no one was taking him seriously.

The next one didn't do anything.

Doppler pointed to him. "Go on."

He looked startled. "Oh, ah, yeah, I'm Tunnel Rhino and I work in the crystal mines. Why am I here again? I think my shift starts in a few minutes."

"It's okay," Doppler said. "Try to focus more."

"Uh, sure, I guess."

Then it was Neon Tiger's turn. "Hi, I'm Neon Tiger and I've worked for lots of places over the years. I organize things! I'm actually staff here. They let me organize the pencils by size and color today. But there was this one that was periwinkle, and we had no other periwinkle colored pencil and I wasn't sure what to do with it…"

"That's good enough, Neon Tiger," Doppler said. "Now you."

"I'm Volt Catfish and I'm here for anger management too. I don't mind people most of the time, so long as they respect my personal space. I work on underwater construction projects."

Next was Buffalo again, so the next introduction was, "I'm Blast Hornet. People say I'm paranoid and touchy, but they just don't get it. I was a theatre guard, and you have no idea how many people tried to hop screens or sneak inside, or simply ignored the rules. It was maddening. Besides, there were always the projector imps."

Lastly there was, "I'm Crush Crawfish and I like to destroy things, especially with sharp pointy objects."

At least he's honest, X thought.

"But we shouldn't be destroying things, right?"

"Right," the residents said. "I should construct my world, not destruct it."

X cussed softly, causing Beetle to grin.

"Unless it's scary," Seahorse said. "Then it should be destroyed."

"No, not even then. Your mind tends to blow things out of proportion. We are working on that, aren't we?"

"Yes sir."

"Now, anything you wish to start with?"

"Volt slapped me this morning," Crush said.

"He was running with scissors," Volt replied.

"Scissors? Crush, you know you're not supposed to have scissors."

He protested, "They were safety scissors! They were too blunt to cut paper. They couldn't even slice butter."

"But why were you running with them?"

"They were in the art room, on the table, with red handles and shiny surfaces. It had been so long since I've had a lovely pair of scissors in my hands that I got excited. Then he slapped me and I discovered they were blunt. It was a very bad morning."

"You shouldn't run with scissors," Seahorse said. "They'll impale your eye." He shuddered.

"You can replace an eye," X said. "But if it's really sharp and imbeds itself in your central core, then you might be dead."

Seahorse paled. Crush clapped his hands together. "Sweet."

Buffalo said, "I didn't think scissors were a formidable weapon."

"We'd better leave this for later," Doppler said.

"Nah, scissors are a great weapon," Hornet said. "But if anyone tries to trim my wings again, they'll be toast."

"I know what you mean," Volt said. "Every time I see someone with sharp scissors, I think they mean to cut my whiskers off. And that I don't like."

"I'm never touching scissors again," Seahorse mumbled.

"Hang on, hang on!" Doppler said, holding his hand up. That got everyone to stop. "Now, scissors are tools, not weapons. But still, we must be careful with everything we use. Violence is not the answer to anything."

"Violence is not the answer," the residents all said.

"And there are plenty of alternatives out there. Tell me about them."

"Rational discussion," Hornet said, as if bored already.

"Yes, rational discussion and organization of terms!" Neon Tiger said excitedly. "If you discuss all terms and points openly, then the whole truth will become clear and the problem will often resolve itself. Keeping things to yourself in secrecy will more often then not multiply your problems."

Crush rolled his eyes. Buffalo said, "Hhpmm." Hornet made a crazy sign to his head.

"Very good," Doppler said. "Anyone else have alternatives to violence?"

"Avoiding the situation," Seahorse said.

"If absolutely necessary," Doppler modified.

X spoke up. "I prefer humiliating pranks over violence any day."

This got laughs from the other side of the circle, as well as Seahorse edging away from where X and Beetle were.

"Then they know not to mess with you," Volt agreed.

"We have to be careful with anything like that," Doppler said. "People hold grudges and backlash will always come."

X shrugged. "I know. I can hold grudges longer than anyone else."

"That's not what I meant."

"Grudges make everything so messy though," Tiger complained. "Everyone should just get along nicely, make everyone happy, and be neat and organized. When that happens, everyone will be very happy and the world will be in total peace. The past is just the past. Forgive and forget. Love everyone around you!"

"Except for overly annoying optimists," Beetle muttered.

"What was that?" Tiger shouted.

Doppler got up. "Calm down, it's okay. This is a discussion group, not debate. Now we were talking about alternatives to violence. Tunnel Rhino, did you have any thoughts?"

He looked blank.

"Rhino?"

Seahorse nudged him. "Hey, they're talking to you."

"Huh? Oh, right! The only crystals left on level 1 are junk, so we should just clear it out and make the new command center there. It would make most sense."

"Earth to Rhino!" Hornet teased. "We're in Dopplertown, above ground."

"Above ground? What am I doing above ground?"

"It's okay," Seahorse said. "You're safe from the evil dwarves now. But you still gotta look out for the evil lawn gnomes."

"What alternatives are there to violence, Rhino?" Doppler asked patiently. "As we were discussing."

"Alternatives to violence? Well, if things are wrong, there is no alternative but to fight. Especially when we're talking about dwarves."

"No, diplomacy…"

"Won't work on those gold-greedy dwarfs," Rhino finished.

"Or on the proletarians." Buffalo added.

Doppler put down his e-pen. "No, violence only leads to more violence."

"Tell that to the dwarfs," Rhino said.

"Or to the aliens," Seahorse added quietly.

"They won't listen, so you gotta fight 'em."

Doppler looked at them, somehow keeping the quiet. "Look, fighting only makes things worse. Open discussions of mind and heart, like the one we're having here, will help all of you to heal. If you fight, your problems will only multiply. You all know that. You've had arguments that only served to make you feel worse about yourselves. We must avoid those situations and find more open and honest ones."

"I argued with my best friend once," Crush said after several moments of silence. "I never spoke to him again. But he was so nice to me before. I still miss him."

"I'm your best friend now," Hornet said.

"Yeah, but he was something special. He got me interested in baseball."

"You like baseball?" Doppler asked.

Crush shrugged. "Well, I did before I began to collect sharp pointy things. There's nothing sharp or pointy in baseball. The bat does hurt when it hits you. The ball too, for that matter. But it wasn't about that then. It was fun and I liked playing with him. But then we argued and he got transferred. I was very upset, but wouldn't talk to him because of our argument."

"I argue with my mum more than I should," Beetle said. "I keep telling myself I'll stop it, but I never do. I don't know why. I hate it."

"I've argued with my sister recently," X said. Even as he said it, he wondered why he was telling it to this group of strangers. "I hadn't seen her in years, but I'd always liked her the best in my family. I think I've disappointed her."

The group session went on for another hour, but X hardly said anything more. The talk had gotten very subdued from the discussion on scissors, so that accounted for part of his silence. But most of it was because he felt like he'd said too much already.

* * *

"Crazy bunch, huh?" Beetle asked as they walked into the parking lot after the session. They were the only non-residents.

"That they are," X said.

"You coming back next week?"

He shrugged. "I might. I'll see how my work schedule comes up."

"Sure. So, you were going to help me?"

"Oh, yeah, I was. Something up with your bike?"

He smiled. "No, I have a bet coming up that I have to win. It's either losing my bike or getting another. A new class Harley."

"Sweet. So what's the bet?"

"It's a little contest to see who has the best scream."

X laughed. "A screaming contest? ****, who came up with that one?"

"I hardly remember. You know how those nights get. So I was trying to figure out how to secure this win. I do not want to lose mine."

"Certainly not."

"Then I remembered you had that scream power or whatever that gave us all headaches when you did it a month back… and you shattered every bit of glass in the place and had to gamble your way out of the blame."

"Shatter Wave. Yeah, that would win any screaming contest."

"So you wanna copy and trade powers?"

"What've you got?"

"Gravity Well. Trust me, I know you'll love it."

"What's it do?"

"It creates minor pockets of altered gravity that you can use to manipulate objects in ways that defy physics."

"And that all means?"

"Check this out." He held out his hand and pointed to his helmet, hanging on his metabike. Then he quickly snapped his finger back. The helmet lifted off the bike and came right to Beetle.

"That's nifty."

"And if you create a gravity pocket near poorly constructed enemies, they'll break down. It can also induce vertigo in humans."

"That for Shatter Wave? Sure, that's a deal. And you might like to know that Shatter Wave will shatter not just glass, but also most armors and shields. Just don't ever charge Shatter Wave. It…. well, just don't ever do it."

"Some powers have awful charge versions. Sounds like a fair trade, huh?"

"Good one. Here, let me get my cable." He opened his armor pocket and pulled out a data cable.

"Keep one on at all times, huh?"

X rolled his eyes. "Two. I have to in order to keep my mechanic healer's license. First aid and manual diagnosis, you understand. But it'll trade powers well."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was really conversation heavy at the time when I was writing this. I would have added way more non-talking bits if I completely redid this today. Anyhow, I had trouble working some Mavericks into this story, so I put most of the extras in this chapter and another similar to it. But it's not entirely filler, as we get the little point about X and Roll, as well as getting Gravity Well.


	19. The Many Forms of Lunacy

"Lollipop, lollipop, o-la-di-la-di-pop," Bluebell sang as she skipped down the sidewalk. Just behind her were two of her sisters, Iris and Clover.

"Calm down," Clover said, tapping her shoulder. "We're in public."

"Do we have to walk her all the way to Doppler's?" Iris asked. "This is embarrassing."

Clover pointed at her, still skipping. "She'd just wander off and we'd spend weeks looking for her again. Rose, Tulip, and Poppy are nowhere to be found."

Iris rolled her eyes. "They're probably hiding so they don't have to do this."

"No one takes Violet seriously," Clover went on. "And you know how she gets about teleport…"

Iris put her hand over her sister's mouth. "Shh!"

Bluebell turned to face them. "Teleporters are evil," she said. "They're portals to hell. My brain always rings after I travel in one. No way!"

Iris smiled and patted her shoulder. "It's okay Bluebell. No one will make you teleport if you don't want to."

"No one should. It's why there's so much evil in the world today. They all need to be smashed!"

"Let's keep going," Clover said, nudging her ahead. "You'll be in a nice safe place soon."

"Will there be flowers?"

"Of course there will be."

Bluebell grinned at that. "Yay! Let's go to a nice place."

"We are."

"Clover!" a male voice called from behind.

"Oh dear lord no," Clover groaned.

"What could be worse than walking her to the nuthouse?" Iris asked.

"Walking with her and him."

The guy rushed up behind them, then halted. He had matte black armor and short black hair. But it was a hideous dyed black. You could even see his natural blond coming out at the roots. And he seemed to be wearing a white powder, to make his face look even starker. "Clover, my sweet, there you are. I heard this was your day off, so I asked for it off too and hoped we could spend it together."

"You could have at least mentioned it to me," Clover said.

Iris giggled. "Oh, you never told us you had a boyfriend."

Clover was turning red. "He is not my boyfriend! He's just some guy at work who stalks me all the time."

"No, honestly, I love you, I need your beautiful presence to make my miserable existence worthwhile. I'm not stalking you. So who are these, your sisters?"

"Yeah, this is Iris and Bluebell's the one skipping. This freak is Nocturne."

Bluebell turned around again and got into Nocturne's face. "Hey creepazoid, why'd you dye your hair all ugly like dirt?"

"It is a hideous look," Iris said.

Clover shook her head. "You don't have to be so mean to him, even if he is stalking me. Although I did like it better before. He had really long blond hair and it was so darn cute. Probably the cutest thing about him."

Nocturne looked at the ground. "You don't like my new look?"

"You look like a corpse," Iris said.

"It is a little scary," Clover admitted.

"I was trying to become myself, like X said. So I thought maybe a new look…"

"Grow your hair back and stop dying it," Clover said.

He looked hopeful. "Then will you go out with me?"

"No. Then everyone will stop laughing at you behind your back."

"But this is the look of a proper Goth lover… sweet Clover, you must agree to go out with me, at least once. I'm nothing without you."

"You drive me up the wall. If I had to date you, I'd probably be moving into Dopplertown with Bluebell here."

"But it's a nice happy place," Bluebell said gleefully. "No evil teleports, no horrible gremlins, and especially no mysterious dark voices in the middle of the night. Do come with me."

"We might visit if there's time," Iris said.

"And I don't really have time for this Nocturne. Go find someone else to stalk or I'll file sexual harassment charges on you."

"But you are my sweet sugar drug of love, Clover. Don't let me go on alone."

Iris started laughing out loud. She tried to say something, but one look at Nocturne being serious about it made her laugh harder.

"Sweet sugar… Nocturne!" Clover glared at him. "That's going too far. You have no idea how to be romantic. And you got rid of the one thing I liked about you, your hair. Go away and never come near me again!"

"I'd rather be shot right here and now than never see your lovely vision again."

Both sane girls were considering obliging him when someone else did. Nocturne was knocked down instantly, denying him the chance to give a death soliloquy. Behind him with a smoking blaster was… "Zero?" Clover asked.

He shrugged sheepishly. "He asked for it."

"That he did," she said.

"Sorry."

"You don't have to be sorry. I'm glad he shut up."

"X told me I had a shoddy clone out there." He tapped Nocturne with his foot. "What were they thinking, standardizing my design? It should be a sin."

Nocturne revived and got up. "What the world… is happening?"

Thinking quickly, Iris grabbed the new guy and pulled him over. "Zero here is going to protect us from your stalking, especially my sis. Isn't that right?"

Zero looked startled, then looked down at the other. "Yeah. Loser."

Nocturne looked hurt. "But I'm not stalking, I'm in love. Clover, sweetie."

She shook her head. "You're stalking."

He got up. "Oh, why do you girls always have to go for the guys with long hair? It's so pitifully effeminate… erk!"

He erk'ed because Zero had grabbed his collar very tightly. He'd also drawn his saber and was holding it uncomfortably close. "NO ONE disses my hair. You shame yourself in abusing yours so. Now get out of here, coward."

He tossed him back. Nocturne looked like he might say something more.

Zero shifted his saber's poise meaningfully.

Nocturne put his hands up meekly and fled.

Zero put his saber up. "Ninny."

Iris meant to tease him some about the hair (even though she did admire the effort he obviously put into it), but figured she valued her life more than that. "Well, thank you Zero. That was very kind."

"Who are you girls and how do you know me?"

Iris looked at Clover.

"Well, I'm Clover, and this is Iris and Bluebell. We're sisters, obviously. If it's Maverick X you know…"

"Yeah."

"I've met him and you, about the same time, but you weren't quite sane. Sorry, but I work for the government."

"Um, okay. So you want me to protect you from that stalker?"

Iris smiled. "I was just saying that to get him off Clover's back. But that would be nice. We're taking Bluebell to Dopplertown."

"Well, I won't charge for today. But any longer and I'm a mercenary."

"That's understandable."

Clover nodded. "Not that I'll need you. I live on the Maverick Hunter base."

Iris shrugged. "Well, if you're willing to be a bodyguard, I might have some work for you. I can't always count on our brothers."

Clover laughed. "Oh please sis, Colonel would do just about anything you say or threaten the other boys into doing it for him."

"Except Poppa keeps asking him to work, so he can be lazy."

"That's true."

Zero pulled out a piece of paper and wrote his number on it. "I'm just starting, so I don't have business cards or anything. But if one of you girls needs me, just call."

Iris took it. "Sure enough. Thanks."

"No problem."

"Lollipop, lollipop," Bluebell started again, skipping and all.

* * *

"Do you have anything you want to start with this time, X?"

He's really good at reading body language, X thought. "Actually, yeah. But it's strange. I have this reoccurring dream."

Doppler's pen made a scratching noise as he jotted something down. "Dreams are important to the psyche, especially the strange reoccurring ones. Tell me about it."

"I just thought of it because I had it very clearly last night, the strongest version of it I've seen. I find myself in a work chamber in a locked room. Rather smallish room at that, with computer equipment everywhere. But there's dust on every surface. It looks like nothing living has been in that room with me for years."

"Strange. What happens?"

X shrugged. "Nothing. I'm just in that chamber in a locked room, looking out, thinking of nothing. I can tell there's an electrical storm about. You know how that is? When you get badly messed up and you get put in a full work chamber, you can tell when storms come by the flow of electricity into the chamber?"

Out of view, Doppler nodded. "I'm aware of that. So nothing happens?"

"Yeah. And I keep having that dream. Any idea what it means?"

"Well it could mean &&&&%%%%%…."

System instability detected++++**&&#&((*&#*&?

"And I (*&Y having problems wiafnfe; perception…"

Doppler %%% you're not supposed to know jaojgono knowing jaj."

Error detected: compensating for problems…

Serges, Agile, and Violin were acting as prosecutors. X sat at the defendant table and wondered where his lawyer was. The judge was &*89&#*&&

Doppler attached him to repair equipment. "X, the whole problem nekafoa thematrixhasyouXLight j2p you really need to stop drinking excessively jajfjlk Correcting, please stand by…

X opened his eyes and looked out at a dusty room.

Judge &*89 looked sternly at him. "You're failing this trial so far, X Light. You'd best come up with a better strategy than the one you are currently employing."

X stood up, angrily. "But what are the charges against me! I've heard all this testimony and I can't make heads or tails of anything."

Fjahgouhw2$Taojf system stabilized.

X woke up. He rubbed his head. "****, what was that all about?"

The door knocked. "Hey X."

"What the **** do you want Zero?"

"Isn't your next appointment in a few minutes?"

He checked his internal timekeeper. "Shoot. Thanks for reminding me."

He got up and left in a hurry. Fortunately, Doppler was running late too. "I had to talk Crush into giving up a box of thumbtacks."

"Why do things like that get left around him?"

Doppler sat in his usual chair. "He must have a radar for pointy objects. Anything sharp that gets left in his area is found within the hour. Do you have anything you want to start with this time, X?"

He's really good at reading body language, X thought. "Actually, yeah. But it's rather strange. I have this reoccurring dream."

Doppler's pen made a scratching noise as he jotted something down. "Dreams are very important to the psyche, especially the strange reoccurring ones. Tell me about it."

"I just thought of it because !1 Error found, again…

"You know, reploids with drinking problems can catch on fire. It's more common than most know about. Mixing alcohol with electrical systems is bound to start fires. If you have a small internal fire near your central core, that would destabilize your sense of reality even long after the initial injury."

X slapped his forehead. "Of course. I should have ******* known that."

"We can check for that. It's easily fixed. Otherwise, that dream of yours might actually be *(ywjfao;nvoonowna."

Serges smiled cruelly. "We aim to prove that X is too dangerous to be kept going 2$tanbvil dammit,notagain *3navi compensating for problems…

"If you fail this trial, you will be deleted before*#(Y(KFNNNnonononono!

Don't delete me!

Nobody came. He couldn't leave the work chamber. It was lonely in here. Nobody came…

Correcting, please stand by…

Damn stupid computer ajgonmv9jonnvad34it was all gone, gone, gone, gone, into fire that was not fire… look, why don't you forget about this whole disturbing scenario?

I have this reoccurring dream…

I've heard all this testimony and I can't make heads or tails of anything.

System stabilized.

"Do you have anything you want to start with this time, X?"

"Huh?"

Doppler tapped his shoulder. "Did you have something you want to talk about?"

"Um… on second thought, no."


	20. True Insanity

Bluebell skipped over to her support group session. It was held in a nearby parking garage. It was the only place where they could hold their group, as one of their members, Frost Walrus, was as large as an elephant. The Walrus lived in the garage, running the tollbooth and keeping troublemakers out. But you could only enter in either a hovercraft or a four-wheel drive vehicle with ice tires.

"Matt!" one of the members was yelling. "Get down here!"

Bluebell put on her coat and looked up. The reploid in question was clinging to the column near the ceiling. "No way! He's going to get me!"

A third said, "I can fly, you know."

Matt stayed in the corner. "Keep away from me!"

"I won't touch you," he said calmly.

Doppler came in, walking carefully on the ice. "Mattrex, please come down. You're the only fire based reploid in this group and it's freezing in here."

"I don't like fire," the one Matt was scared of said. "But, yes, you could get frostbite in here."

"I like it," Bluebell said cheerfully. "You can skate in here. Whee!" And she spun around in a twirl.

Mattrex finally slid down the column, but he looked cautious. The one that scared him smiled at Bluebell. "You're very good at skating."

"It's fun."

He nodded and moved the chair next to him. "You can sit by me and we'll talk about skating."

"Okay."

"No, don't you dare," another reploid said. She was wearing a rose necklace. "He's just trying to seduce you, sister. I've had sessions with him before, and I am so glad this one has another girl in it."

"There aren't many girls here?"

"No, not at all. It's a shame."

"Yeah. I have lots of sisters, so I'm used to having lots of girls around."

She smiled at her. "Then you just stick with me. And don't let him sweet talk you into anything."

He crossed his arms and shook his head. "You have to go sticking your nose into everything, don't you?"

"Where's Walrus?" Doppler asked.

"Where's Waldo!" Bluebell said gleefully as she sat down with the other girl.

"No, Frost Walrus."

"I'm here," a voice came from somewhere. "I can hear you perfectly well."

"Where are you?"

"Up on the floor above you. Hang on, I'm coming down."

"This will take time," another muttered. He had white armor with large wings.

Doppler looked at the ramp. "You can hear the rest of us from anywhere, right?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"In that case, we all ought to introduce ourselves, as I'm sure most of you don't know each other. This group should work out well, provided you both bury the hatchet." He looked between Bluebell's friend and seducer.

"If he learns some manners."

"If she stops being so nosy."

"Let's try not to argue," Doppler interrupted. "Go ahead."

Bluebell's friend was first. "Okay, I'm Axel the Red and I'm a transsexual."

"Wow," Bluebell said. "How did you manage that?"

"Oh, it's real easy," Axel said. "All you have to do is hack into your central core and change a few bits of programming, and bam, you're any gender you want to be. I was made a man, but I decided to become a woman, then went back to being a man for a while and went back and forth for several years. I turned myself into a hermaphrodite for a while, but that didn't work out. And then there was the incident with the mechaplant; let's not go there. When I got sent here, I was a woman and you thought I'd done some major programming damage in switching genders all the time."

"It's because of the constant hacking," Doppler said. "Not because of the switching. And also that mechaplant invading…"

"Right, just stop there. So I've been a woman for a couple of years." She shrugged. "I dunno, I keep thinking of changing back into a man, but I like being a woman too. Maybe I should have just stuck with being a hermaphrodite."

"Whatever makes you happy," the Repliforce girl chirped.

"If you say so. So what about you girl?"

She smiled. "I'm Bluebell. My family keeps sending me to these nice places because I drive them nuts with my constant cheery personality. So I'm not suffering from my mental disorder, but my family is. It's funny."

"But we must all learn to get along with each other," Doppler said. "That includes not making others suffer from anything."

Bluebell shrugged. "I guess. I'm also a witch."

"A witch?" Mattrex looked nervous.

"A good witch," she insisted. "I read card fortunes and dispel evil spirits."

"That's good," he responded. "Can you get rid of him?"

"Hey!"

"Let's just chill out," Doppler said.

"But we already are," Bluebell said.

"That's not funny," Walrus called out from wherever he was.

"Let's move on," Doppler suggested.

"Okay, well, I'm Mattrex. I started as a gladiator, you know, codename Burn Dinorex on the Ring of Fire circuit? There's a lot of really good guys in there."

"Any girls?" Bluebell asked.

"No, not really… it's live volcano battling, not much of a feminine sport."

"Oh, okay."

"I was doing really well for a novice. Then I came up against this one guy, Blaze Heatnix." He shuddered. "He could make an entire pool of lava go upside down on you. He drove a spike into my central core and it nearly killed me. Then he dumped the entire arena's supply of lava on top of my head. I mean, I'm built to handle it, but not with a spike in my central core. And ever since, I've been unable to go back into the arena. I get so nervous."

"That's too bad," Bluebell said.

"You're getting better," Doppler said. "I'm sure you'll make it back into the Ring of Fire and make a good comeback run."

"You didn't see him a few minutes ago," Axel said. "Hiding from the darkling."

"I did nothing to him," he quietly asserted.

"This is The Skivver!" the winged reploid said without being prodded. "And he is the greatest flier in the world, no matter what stupid little firefly says. He was the best member of the Global Military Force for many long years. But they forced him to this little retirement home because they said he was going senile. They have no idea what they lost in retiring him."

"Thank you Skivver," Doppler said.

"He is The Skivver!"

"Hey dork, why do you speak in third person?" Bluebell asked.

"No insulting," Doppler told her.

"It's not an insult if he is," she replied.

"Do not make fun of The Skivver. He will be very mad."

"So why do you speak in third person?"

"He is not answering such a simplistic question."

She giggled. "Whatever."

"Now you."

The last one in the circle nodded. "My name is Dark Dizzy and I am a vampire reploid. I was once Sky Fruitbat, an astronomer studying the stars for evidence of far away planets. But then strange little dogs attacked my city. Five of them ganged up on me and left me for dead. Then a mysterious young man by the name of Daedelous found me. He offered to repair me and make me far better than I was in exchange for some task. I agreed and he turned me into a vampire. I wasn't very pleased with the results and refused to do his task. In retaliation, I now bear the full curse. But I know I have a darker fate yet to come."

"A vampire?" Bluebell asked. "Can you cross running water? I've heard so many conflicting stories."

"I can't cross running water, I can't touch fire, I can't be touched by sunlight, and I can't enter holy places. And I can't stand the smell of garlic and wild roses. That is my curse."

"Doesn't sound like he made you much stronger," she said.

"Well, I couldn't fly fully before, and I couldn't fight, so I am stronger in some ways, yet far weaker in others."

"There you are Walrus," Doppler said. "Would you introduce yourself as well?"

"You already have."

"Well, tell us something about yourself."

"I'm feeling depressed today."

"He always is," Axel whispered to Bluebell. "Ever wonder where all this ice comes from?"

"Cheer up!" Bluebell said merrily. "The sun will always shine."

"Not really," Walrus said. "It's due to blow up."

"We'll probably be long dead before then," she said without losing her cheer. "So there's no need to worry about that."

"Did you have to bring someone like her into my garage? Happy people only make me miserable."

"I can make you happy!"

"No, you can't."

Dr. Doppler tried to think of a new topic to keep everyone from driving each other nuts. Many times he'd been asked how he could handle the borderline maverick group without going crazy himself. Well, the borderlines were no problem so long as you knew what set off everyone's temper. If he ever went crazy, it would probably be because of reploids like this group. The truly crazy ones that were that way because of problems in their programming data that took months to find. Those were the worst cases.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, this was to use some Mavericks I had no place for otherwise, as well as establish a bit about Bluebell. And to just have a chapter full of lunatics. The X5 Mavericks work well for that.


	21. This is Progress?

Dr. Doppler started as a healer-mechanic, where his skills at listening between the words gave him a waiting list of patients who were mostly psychotic. So he was allowed to take classes in psychotherapy. Applying that science to reploids was a new area of study, and Doppler had the advantage of being one of the few reploids in reploid psychotherapy. He was world renown for his groundbreaking papers and ability to turn difficult cases around. Such was the hope for Maverick X.

Doppler would use the first few months of borderline therapy to soften up the mavericks, to get them used to talking in session. X was taking longer than usual. Then again, Sigma himself had come to talk to Doppler, to try convincing him to give X up to the law. That was in the fifth month of X's therapy, as he was becoming a regular at the group sessions. Sigma almost convinced Doppler, and then made the mistake of saying that if X was found guilty, of anything, he was up for total destruction.

Had he been informed of this when X had asked for therapy, Doppler would have agreed without hesitation. But at that point, he was beginning to like X and wanted to see him set straight. His interview with Blues had influenced him greatly. So learning that X was up for the deletion, Doppler refused to turn him over. He reminded Sigma that as a willing patient, X could not be harmed on hospital property. Sigma gracefully accepted that, but was obviously irritated.

So X was taking his time opening up. In fact, X's year review was coming up, and Doppler suspected he would not pass. But last session, he had not cussed. It made Doppler feel confident on saying, "I think you need to stop skipping around the main issue here. We're not going to make any more progress until you do."

"What are you talking about?"

"We need to talk about your father."

"I don't want to talk about him. He was a ******* jerk," he moved to a defensive position by crossing his arms on his chest. It rang to Doppler's ears like the weak spot in a pane of glass. "Worse than me, I think."

"How's he worse than you?"

"I don't remember much of that time. But what few memories I do have are of him and me arguing. A lot. My brother remembers the same thing."

He was avoiding remembering, Doppler thought. Blues had recalled Dr. Light and X getting along early on. "Memories of the first few years are lost for some reploids. It's a strange occurrence. What did you argue about?"

He shrugged. "He gave me free will, but didn't like the way I was deciding things. He tried to control my actions, which made me try to choose what he would not want me to choose, and so we argued more. It just got worse until the last one."

Doppler made some notes. He already knew X had control issues. "What happened at the last one?"

"I don't remember. But it was something… it was a very bad scenario. I knew it was wrong, but I either wasn't thinking about right or wrong or I didn't care and did it anyways."

"Did what?"

"I don't ******* remember. It was something very bad. Then we argued until he threatened to dump my current programming and start all over again. I told him if he did that, I hoped I would remember to hate him and to not acknowledge him as my creator. Then he disowned me, and I ran away. He died a short while later."

That wasn't something he got in the interview with Blues. "So from what he said in anger, you assume he's a worse jerk than you are."

"I know he is. Look, my brother remembers him fondly and they never argued. Of course, he's a perfect law abiding citizen. And all he remembers of my relationship with Dr. Light is that we argued constantly. Don't you see? Maybe I did like him at one point, but Dr. Light erased all the good memories and left all the arguments alone. He's a total jerk."

"He erased all the good memories."

"Yeah," he said, but obviously didn't mean it.

"I think there might be something good left."

There was quiet for a half minute, and then X said, "So there was this stupid incident with a prism crystal. We were talking about rainbows, or something like that. I don't remember it entirely. But that wasn't an argument. And there was some other time… I was really young, mind you. Real young. I think maybe three months or something. There was a severe thunderstorm and he stayed with me the whole time. But that's before I really understood I could chose to do what I wanted, so it doesn't count. But that's it. One stupid conversation and once when I was young and scared. So I know he could be nice, which only made him worse when we started clashing."

"Right. So now that he is gone…"

"Bloody humans…"

"Do you miss him?"

"Heck no."

"Be honest. Do you miss him?"

There were fifteen minutes left in their scheduled appointment. It was silent the whole time. Dr. Doppler sent him back home as nicely as he could, but X wouldn't meet his eyes.

There was always the next session.

* * *

Zero hung around the Blasted Machine Shop, but wasn't quite sure what to do with himself. He wasn't a mechanical genius like X. Sure, he could do simple repairs and keep his saber working perfectly, but beyond that, nope. Nothing. He did odd secretarial jobs every so often, but was too restless to stick to it. He played music, but his irregular shows earned him little money. In fact, he lost money on his passion more often then not, like when he had his guitar fixed after the Jumbles incident. Once he tried to help clean up the shop, but the mechanics went nuts if their 'organization systems' were messed with. Anyhow, it was near impossible to keep the shop clean every day. His best income potential was his freelance job as a mercenary.

Zero had a major problem, which had incited his efforts to earn his keep. When X had found him, he was barely alive from decades of neglectful maintenance. Now he was operating efficiency. His mind felt clean and clear, his wit and senses were sharper than ever. Zero knew full well what that meant. He knew there wasn't a standardized part in his body; he knew organizing his inner systems was like unknotting fishing line. He knew his design required high quality parts and some rare materials. Zero's debt to X was in the range of millions of zenny, perhaps even more.

And yet so far, X had asked nothing of him.

So Zero had spent the past few weeks making inquires about becoming a mercenary. He'd already done a few odd jobs: dealing with Clover's stalker, claiming a few bounties from the local police, and guarding various individuals. The plan was to pay X off with the money he earned. But things would be a lot better if he had his own office and X's blessing.

It was after dark when Zero came in to ask. He found Black Dyne leaving. He was always last to leave. "G'night Dyne."

The human nodded. "Later Zero."

"Hey, where's X?"

"In his office. Why?"

"I want to talk to him about something."

He shrugged. "All right. But you might want to be careful."

"Careful?"

"Yeah. He came back from his session with Doppler in a black mood. We haven't seen him since."

"Oh, well, that was hours ago. He should be all right."

"Go ahead and choose your poison, I guess." He left.

Choose your poison? Zero brushed it off as some human thing. They could be so weird at times. He went up to X's third story office. The blinds were drawn shut and the door was closed. Light came out of the cracks. He knocked. "Hey X. Can I talk to you for a minute?"

He didn't hear anything, so he knocked again. "X? You are in there, right?"

There was a mumbling sound that might have been an answer, but it was too quiet and the door blocked out the rest.

Zero opened the door. "What're you doing?"

X swore very loudly. "I told you not to come in!"

"I couldn't hear," he said, flustered, but then he noticed, "Have you been crying?"

"That doesn't matter! Just get out!" (Actually, what he did say was longer, but Zero is polite and won't use that sort of language)

"Okay, sorry… I'll talk to you later… you sure you're okay?"

"Go away."

"Right, well, I'll be around."

The door slammed shut behind him. Zero muttered a soft curse against himself for not staying in there. Then again, X had his auxiliary hand off and his buster readied, so it was a bad idea to stay in there.

But wasn't X in borderline therapy? What brought this on?

Zero had noticed something out of place in the office. There was a new still image caster on X's desk, or at least one he hadn't seen before. He hadn't gotten a good look at the image, though.

He thought about it and realized two things at once. Witnessing this did give him some slack on his debt to X. But it also meant he'd probably be here longer.

* * *

Doppler was alone in his apartment. He tried rearranging the programming error patients into different groups. None of the three current groups were working out. It was a difficult task, because there was such a range of symptoms. Not to mention the feuds. Axel and Dizzy were the most blatant, but certainly not the only ones fighting.

As that wasn't working out, he turned to his other problem: a bizarre chain of deaths in his facility. It started when he took in Vile fifteen months ago. The Hunters said that the Cult's Prophet was depressed. The drug chip's symptoms included ecstasy, which accounted for the depression when it was stopped. Doppler was curious about the drug phenomenon in reploids, so he requested Vile's body to be studied. Instead, the Hunters handed him over alive.

Doppler worked with Vile for three weeks before he died. It was a sudden strange death; his power core had burst from overwork, but he had done nothing to account for the strain. And when Doppler went to study Vile's central core, he found it completely blank. Whatever had killed him had taken everything out of his brain with it.

Then another patient, Shield Sheldon, claimed to be 'channeling' the Reploid Goddess. Conversations with Sheldon were filled with strange religious overtones and outrageous claims. For instance, he once said that when the Eternal Clock began keeping time, the whole world would be torn apart, and then put back in perfect order. A month after that, Sheldon was found dead too, his power core in shreds from overwork and his central core completely blank. Ten more reploids fell victim to the same possession and death since, and Doppler didn't have a single rational explanation for it.

He rubbed his forehead. Perhaps the Goddess was a real being. He'd continually dismissed it as some strange fantasy, but with so many of his patients claiming to have met or worked with her… but why would a being with worshippers continually kill them?

He was about to give up and go to bed when a sudden feeling of panic hit him. He looked around frantically for some invader, but couldn't do anything as the invader was already digging into his central core. Then his security system was fried and a strong feeling of happiness and peace came over him. He wondered for a moment if this was how Bluebell felt all the time.

"Wow," he mumbled. "What is it? Some malfunction of my pleasure senses?"

"Is it really a malfunction if it makes you so happy?"

He squinted. It made no sense whatsoever, but a beautiful blond woman was sitting on his coffee table. She was wearing a tight fitted baby doll t-shirt, very short cut-off jeans, and red sneakers. He felt a strange desire to do whatever she asked of him, if only this feeling would stay. "Well," he said, "it's not normal."

She stroked his chin. "It's perfectly fine, Dr. Doppler."

He smiled at her. Of course it was. "Sure. Who are you?"

"I am a Goddess of reploids, that's all you need to know. But I need to know about Maverick X. You tell me what you know."

"I, uh, really can't do that."

"Tell me." Her voice was still sweet, but a touch of sour impatience was there.

"Of course, Goddess. But, are you making me feel like this?"

She nodded. "And I can teach you much in the way of happiness and pleasure. But you must do what I ask of you, slave."

By this point, the dreamy feeling overrode his logic. She was a Goddess and he would serve her, especially if he could make others happy. "Sure, whatever you say."

"Good. You're going to need some help."

* * *

Zero waited a few days before trying again. "So I've got this freelance bodyguard job, and I'd like to use that office I practice in sometimes. You know, cause I need somewhere to keep things safe and organized."

"Sure, I have no problem with it."

Zero paused. He'd expected more argument than just, okay, go ahead. "You don't mind me being a merc out of your shop?"

X shrugged. "It's as you say, you're not much in the mechanically skilled department. So you might as well earn your keep in the way you best can. I don't mind. Just so long as you don't work for those Hunters like some certain backstabbing brother of mine," he finished off in a mutter.

"I intend on being picky. I do have honor."

"Good. You can have that office; I'm not using it for anything. If you want the glass tinted, I'll see to it. Or whatever. Just tell me before you do anything like that."

"Okay. I'll look into it later. I've got a few jobs going on already."

"Nice going. What is it, if you can tell?"

"No specifics. Trust of the subject, you know."

"I know."

"But I was protecting a girl from a stalker. No one you know."

He smiled. "How do you know? I've done some stalking myself."

"Seriously, you're nothing like this guy. He's a total loser."

"That's good to hear. I actually have to be off myself."

"Doppler, huh?"

He scowled. "Yeah. I'm hoping to get out of this week's group session, so I can spend more time on my secret project."

"Secret project, huh?"

"It's a secret."

"Of course. Of what?"

X laughed. "I'm not telling. But you'll know in time. Probably not until I'm done. Good luck on your post, man."

He smiled. "And may time fly during the psycho doc's appointment."

They both laughed at that one.

* * *

"Why did the Goddess call us here?" Bit wondered aloud.

"Never mind," Byte said. "She called us, we must not question her. Especially when she's finally called us both up to assist her." He sighed. "I failed her before, I will not fail her again."

"But Dopplertown? I heard they killed Vile."

"Maverick X killed Vile. The Goddess must have her reasons."

"That she does," Doppler said, walking up behind them in the halls. "Bit, Byte."

"You're with the Cult now? Brilliant!"

The psychologist nodded. "Yes, yes, come in before one of my clueless staff comes by. And shut the door." He waited until that was done. "I've spent years and years trying to make reploids work properly, to clean them up and make them acceptable to society again. But now that the Goddess has come to me herself…" a dazed happy look crossed his face. "Now I know happiness is the true goal of all reploids. And in order to be happy, we must be rid of the humans. I should have seen it, should have noticed all those cases where a human messed up a reploid and the reploid suffered for years after the human was gone."

Byte nodded. "So like us, you know the Goddess is the ultimate being of wisdom and peace, even if we must make war on her behalf."

"Even if we must kill other reploids."

Bit and Byte looked at each other. "Kill… other… reploids?"

"You mean the Maverick Hunters?" Bit said, excited. "I totally agree. They need to go, as soon as possible. They can never understand."

"No," Doppler said. "Leave them for now. The Goddess intends on bringing them to happiness too. If they fight it, then they must die. The one who must die now is Maverick X."

"But he absolutely rocks on a keyboard," Byte said.

"If the Goddess says so," Bit scolded, "we must! She is wise. She knows everything. She is the only one who can truly judge others."

"He is coming today," Doppler warned. "I will take care of him myself. I have called you two in to help with my other plan."

"Other plan?"

Doppler opened his curtains, displaying a good view of the asylum he ran. "Yes, to bring happiness into the world in accordance to the will of the Goddess. She will go with you today. You will go to my patients and allow them the true touch. These reploids are miserable suffering creatures. Allowing them to know absolute happiness will be the best thing to ever happen to them. I have a great many warriors among my patients. They will help us. Combining what is left of the Cult and those that are here, we will create an army to fight off the human authorities. It will be weak at first. But once we infiltrate the Hunter base, there will be no force on Earth able to stop us."

"Certainly not," Byte said. "We have been in training so long, since the Goddess Zero has ordered us to."

"We will be with the Goddess herself all day?" Bit asked, voice trembling with awe.

Doppler held his hand out, acting as if he were holding something. "The True Goddess form is not what you expect. Zero was only another shell for her. I have been a shell for her; so has Vile. And now, one or both of you will be her shell."

"We will do whatever she says," Bit replied.

"I will not fail her this time," Byte repeated.


	22. The Seige of Dopplertown

X was in a defensive posture when Doppler walked into the room and shut the door. "We can move to a different subject, right?" he asked warily.

"Certainly," Doppler said. "How about Zero? You've mentioned him a few times, but nothing substantial."

"Sure, I guess." He eased up some. "He's my science project."

"Why do you call him that instead of your friend?"

"Because he is. It fascinates me how he was operating when any other reploid would have been dead with a tenth of his problems. He'll be operating normally soon, provided he doesn't get wrecked again."

"But you let him live with you, even if it nets you no money."

"You should know better than that. I'm not going to let an unfinished reploid go around without checking in on him once or twice a day. So it's just easier to let him live and work there."

"So what are you going to do when he is done?"

X shrugged. "I dunno. Haven't thought that far ahead."

"What about it then?"

"I guess I'll let him stay. I like jamming with him. He is an excellent guitar player. Maybe I'll start charging him rent."

"So is he your friend or your project?"

"I don't know."

"You mean you don't want to admit that anyone is close to you, in case they turn on you like Dr. Light and Blues did."

"Oh, shut up about that already. I said I didn't want to talk about it."

"Not really."

"I implied it."

"So, back to Zero,"

"Good."

"What do you think of him?"

"Glitchy? He's got problems. He's obsessed about fish, although you'll only ever know that by mentioning some sort of sea life in his presence. He has seizures on occasion, although I've managed to bring it under control. He says he used to get two or three seizures a day, as well as constant migraines. Now he's down to one seizure every other month and no migraines for the past five. He has some memory issues, but it's coming back to him steadily. Apparently his father was high on hallucinogens during his design and building stages."

"He has family problems too?"

"Yeah, but we can make fun of his family. His older brother's become a preacher of all things. Bugs the hell out of me some days, and other days he's okay. Doppler, what are you doing over there?"

He asked that once he realized he hadn't seen Doppler himself for a few minutes, but heard sounds like he was busy with something else. If X had to be visiting a psycho doctor, he'd like to be paid attention to, at least.

Doppler chuckled, a bad sign. "Something you should worry about, Maverick X."

"Hell, you're going to report me, aren't you?"

"No…"

"Then…"

The couch he'd been laying on grew chains and latched onto him. Before he knew it, he was hung from the ceiling like a puppet.

"Hey, dammit, let me go!"

Doppler moved into his view, smiling. "No, X, I'm not going to report you, I'm not going to let you go. I'm going to kill you."

"What, the Hunters get lazy and make you do their dirty work?"

"No." His eyes flashed red. "The Goddess wants you dead for ruining Zero."

"What the hell do you mean by that? I've been fixing him."

Doppler began pacing, demonstrating dramatically with his hands. "The Goddess and Zero were once one being, one whole. Master Daedelous saw to that. The Goddess Zero would come to reploids when they least expected it, when they most needed it. He would break the chains of reploid slavery and lead us to overthrow the human race and rule it instead of being ruled by it. And he would give us the gift of ecstasy, of the intense happiness that humans denied us, saying we didn't need that sort of emotion. He would give us true wisdom and destiny, to turn the world into a mechanical utopia and bring the organic into its proper place. Biological chaos has no place in this world. But you, X, you are chaos of another sort. A truly evil chaos. You took our sacred Goddess of wisdom and order and turned her into a powerless mortal reploid, into this Glitchy that cannot lead us to our true destiny. For that, you deserve to die."

"You're crazy. I can't believe I came to you for psychotherapy when I didn't even ******* need it!"

"You don't need it?" Doppler laughed at him. "You fool, you are so riddled with psychological flaws, it's fascinating to me that you find the will to get up every morning. You are ruled by fear and guilt. And you know that perfectly well, don't you? You know you are nothing more than a total failure and an embarrassment to your father."

"I don't ******* care about my father! You should know that by now."

"I know that you fear others discovering that you truly do love your father."

"Weren't…"

"I going to kill you?"

X felt stunned.

"I know you. I was your therapist. You will die, but not until you realize what you have done in removing the Goddess from our world. And since I know every shadow in your soul, it should not take long."

* * *

Zero came back from his latest job. A famous movie celebrity was in Detroit for a charity event, but some of her personal bodyguards were out with the flu. So he'd been hired to fill in while they recovered. It had been a lot of fuss. He had to sign agreements on appropriate behaviors, non-disclosures, and other special legalities. Basically, he couldn't talk to her without being spoken to; he couldn't even look at her in 'suspicious manners'. However, they were paying him well, so he did the job.

He got back around seven pm, hoping X would be there. He wanted to have a jam session. It'd been some time since their last one, and it would help ease X up from his psychotherapy session. But he was nowhere to be found.

"Has he gotten back yet?" he asked Black Dyne.

"No," the biker said. "I'm getting worried too. After he came back last time in a mood to kill, and now he's overdue several hours…"

"Have you tried calling a couple of bars?"

"That was the first thing I thought of. But none of them have seen him today."

"Hey guys!" Panther yelled from the break room. "Get in here, it's the boss!"

Everyone was there in less than a minute. "What is it?" Reno asked.

"What'd he do now?" Arcanine asked.

"Not him, his psycho doc… look."

The TV was showing an emergency bulletin. "There has been a mass outbreak in maverick reploids today in an unexpected place. Dopplertown, a Michigan mental hospital known for taking in borderline mavericks, has turned into the center for the Cult of the Reploid Goddess led by Doppler himself. They have killed all human workers on grounds and have taken nearby hospitals hostage. The Maverick Hunters have the area cut off and surrounded, but the safety of the hospital patients has limited their actions. The government has not ordered an evacuation of the area yet, but rumors are surfacing it may happen."

"It started about noon," Panther noted. "The same time as his appointment."

"Aw man," Arcanine said. "He ain't getting off the hook for this stunt."

"It doesn't seem like him," Dyne said.

"I'm going," Zero said.

"What the hell are you going to do?"

"To see if X is in there and what his connection to all this is. I don't like this situation, but it's best if I go alone."

"Right," Panther said. "Bring him back whole, you hear?"

"I will."

* * *

"This is for the glory of the Goddess!" Bit called to the crowd. "We must combine our powers and capture the Hunters. Once they are touched by the Goddess, they will be on our side."

In the crowd, Cloud Jumper was flitting about, listening and learning. In this area, he counted 75 mavericks on the Cultist side. He also noted that some of Doppler's patients were fighting amongst themselves, so this wasn't a well organized strike. But he had yet to find Doppler himself. Bit and Byte, life-long Goddess devotees, were leading instead. Where was the doctor?

CJ got a bit too close to Byte, who was handing out weapons to those without. He carelessly handed CJ a bazooka. "There you go."

Despite being a very small reploid, he could handle quite a load while flying. This bazooka was close to his limit. He activated a pair of jets to boost his wing power. "Uh, thanks."

"Hey, I've seen him before!" someone yelled.

CJ looked at the reploid. "Blast Hornet?"

"He's a Hunter!" Hornet shouted. "Get him!"

As quick as he could, he flew up and aimed the bazooka into the crowd. "Banzai!" he yelled as he fired it. The powerful blast killed Hornet and a few others while launching CJ out of the Cultists' reach.

Over on the Hunter side, Silphia saw a small streak. "Redwing! It's CJ!"

Redwing looked up. "Gotcha." He snatched CJ and the bazooka before they crashed into something.

"Thanks," CJ said as they descended.

"You should know better than to play with big guns," Redwing joked. "You could have killed yourself."

"It was an emergency."

Sigma met with them when they landed. "What's your report?"

CJ let Redwing take the bazooka. "I count 75 mavericks, sir. Bit and Byte are with the rebels, but I did not see Doppler or X. They plan on capturing as many as possible and brainwashing them all with the Goddess touch."

"We'd best advise all units on this plan," Sigma said. "Blues, keep to the siege until we can plot a better course."

"Yes sir."

* * *

Zero passed the Hunter lines and made his way into Dopplertown. There were cannons and several small tanks on the Cultist side. Then again, if he recalled right, several reploid units in the Global Forces were Cultists or addicted to the chip. They'd be more than willing to lend some extra weaponry around.

When he found a pair of Cultist warriors, he expected to fight them. Instead, they dropped to their knees and raised their hands. "Hail to the Goddess Zero!"

He felt embarrassed. "Um, hail and all. I'm looking for someone."

"Bit and Byte are here, eagerly awaiting you," one said.

"Dr. Doppler is also here," another said. "He wants to see you too."

"But Byte is now the Avatar," the first said. "You must see him now."

"Byte? I thought Bit was the Avatar."

"It's Byte!"

"No, Bit!"

"Never mind who is the current Avatar, whatever that is," Zero interrupted. "I'm looking for Maverick X."

"Maverick X?" the first asked curiously.

"You're here to execute him!" the second said enthusiastically. "It's very well that you should do it yourself, since he has ruined your powers."

Given that last time he stood up for X to a Cultist, he wound up shot in the head, Zero decided to go with it. "Right… so where is he?"

They pointed to the main building. "Analysis Room 13. Doppler says he is secured and will not be of any danger."

"Okay, thank you."

The two of them looked thrilled. "You need not thank us humble reploids!" the second one cried out. "We will do whatever you wish."

Whatever? "Okay, then go out and celebrate our victory. It's certain. I advise you grab as many fellows as you can and get really drunk."

"Sure!"

"With pleasure, Goddess."

He went to Room 13. The inside of the main building was empty, but bloodstains and weapon damage suggested it hadn't been that way all day. There were tears along the wall, like someone with huge claws had gone berserk. Every piece of furniture was shredded and strewn about. And then someone, or multiple someones, had gotten hold of black paint. Psychological monstrosities glared out at him on every wall.

There were also reploid parts scattered about the building. Some of the patients must have taken their 'liberation' badly. He looked at some and hoped this wasn't X.

Room 13 was locked, so Zero cut out the entire doorframe and kicked it in. X was hanging from the ceiling by heavy chains. His body was limp and his eyes were closed. But he seemed to be untouched by battle. "X!"

X shuddered. "Leave me alone," he whispered.

Zero jumped onto the wall and up to the chains. He sliced them off, figuring that fall wouldn't be terribly damaging. But when X didn't get up, he dropped off the chains and shook his friend. "Hey, X, wake up."

Then he sat up and seemed confused. "Zero? Where's Doppler?"

"I don't know. The Cult has overtaken this place. We all got worried when you didn't come back. Hey, are you okay?"

"No," he said quietly. Then his usual temper returned and he stood up. "I'm going to massacre Doppler!" he yelled, and started stomping out the door.

Zero got up and followed him. "Hey man, hold on…"

X turned back to him. "Don't get in my way," he threatened. "He ******* tore me apart with things I had trusted him with. I thought I'd never meet true evil, but I think I have now."

"This place is crawling with Cultists and surrounded by Hunters," Zero told him. "Not to mention the usual crazies making this nightmare. You'll get yourself killed."

"I don't ******* care. Doppler is going to pay for what he did to me and no one will stop me. Just go back and don't wait for me. Tell Dyne he can have the shop."

"No. If you're going on this suicide mission, I'm going with you."

"What the hell for?"

"I'm your friend and I owe you everything."

For a moment, X was still. "I…"

"You need to snap out of this funk now or we're going to get killed before you get your revenge," Zero said practically.

"Right. Come on… you have any idea of where he is?"

"No, but the Cultists will tell me anything if I let them call me their Goddess."

* * *

The first Cultist they ran across was Tunnel Rhino. "Hail Goddess!" he said.

"Hello," Zero said.

"Oh, hi Rhino."

"You know him?"

"Yeah, he's in group therapy with me."

"Some fools said you were ruining the Goddess," Rhino said. "But the group thinks you're all right."

"Thanks."

"He's a friend of mine," Zero said. "So, Rhino…"

"Tunnel Rhino, crystal mine specialist at your service."

"Right. We're looking for Dr. Doppler."

"Don't go near him!" Rhino said. "He claimed to be working for you, but he is a horrible liar. After he tried for months to reformat me into a goody-two-shoes obedient civilian, he decided to abuse me with the horrors of the dwarves. Or if you must go to him, destroy him."

"That's our intention," X said bitterly.

"Would you tell us where he is?"

"Yes, he's retired to his quarters to sell his soul to the devil. Or what's left of it. Just be careful. He sent Tiger into a berserk rampage and gave Crush a box of sharp scissors. I last saw Buffalo dead with dozens of scissors sticking out of his shell."

"Crush is more dangerous," X commented.

"Right, we'll keep that in mind. And what of this Bit and Byte I've heard of?"

"Bit and Byte?" X said. "You don't remember? Those two losers who screwed up the sound system at our concert with Cyclone."

"Oh yeah, them."

"They're fighting the Hunters," Rhino said. "Last I heard of them anyhow. They'll be killed. I think Tiger's out there too."

"Well, thank you for helping. We're going to find Doppler."

"May you be successful, Goddess."

"See what I mean?" Zero asked when they were out of hearing range.

"He likes me, remember? The other Cultists may not be so easy going."

"Let's just get Doppler, then get out of here before the Hunters close in."

"Right."

* * *

Doppler heard a knock on the door. "Who is it?" he asked his home's system.

"Zero."

"Oh, let him in and tell him to meet me in here."

A minute later, Zero walked into the room alone. "You're Dr. Doppler, huh?"

He bowed his head. "And you must be the original Avatar of the Goddess. It's a pleasure to meet you at last Zero. Come in and make yourself comfortable."

They shook hands and Zero sat on a couch. "Well, compared to the rest of the place, your house is very nice."

"I'm not in here often and when I am, I usually need a break from everyone else."

"I see."

"You're not exactly what I expected of the original Avatar. I was told you were a fine warrior, but you don't seem to have any weapons."

"I have my beam saber. I just keep it well hidden."

"And a guitar on your back."

He smiled. "Yes, Angel goes everywhere with me. I consider myself a musician above all else."

"Even above battle and your being the Goddess?"

"Certainly."

"That's strange. I mean, the Goddess… the most wise, wonderful, and you, her original Avatar, a musician above that?"

"Really, the Goddess caused me nothing but confusion, nightmares, and migraines. Music is the most important thing to my soul."

"If you feel that way."

"I came because I was concerned about my friend, X. He had an appointment with you about the time this whole mess started. Is he doing all right?"

"Of course, I should have known. X. You consider him your friend?"

"Sure."

"Why do you say so?"

"Why not? X was the only one to see how badly I was suffering under the Goddess and he helped me get past the handicaps my creator forced on me. He risked everything to invade the Maverick Hunter base and reclaim my central core. And I do mean everything. He's been stalked lately by a group of Hunters calling themselves the X Hunters and they're a serious lot. I owe him more than life itself and he won't ask a thing from me. He's my friend."

"I don't think he reciprocates those feelings, Zero."

Zero laughed. "Please, you should know as well as I do how self-deluded X can be. He tries to be a harsh cold person, but I can see he's a hypocrite in every aspect of that illusion. It's only a matter of when he's going to learn that it's not worth the effort to keep it up."

"You don't seem to understand…"

"No, somehow you don't understand. You've tried to make your patients happy with the touch of the Goddess, but it won't work. The touch is only a fleeting pleasure that leaves more pain behind. It drives reploids crazy. Most of your patients are here because the Goddess has already touched them. The best thing to do is remove the Goddess from this world and deal with all the angry followers until they realize that her absence is the best thing that could happen to the reploid race. Mind control by any means is still mind control, killing the free souls of people. You've destroyed your patients, intentionally and unintentionally. And for that, you'll be killed."

Doppler smiled. "Are you threatening to kill me?"

Zero shook his head. "No. I already told you, I am a musician and not a warrior. Besides, if I killed you, it would be denying your patients their revenge."

He paused, puzzled. "Revenge?"

"Yes," Zero said.

"Be glad I'm just killing you," X said.

* * *

The intercom system went live. "Your outer forces have fallen, Dr. Doppler. We have the entire outside occupied. Give up now for a fair trial or we will kill you."

"Shoot," X said. "We don't want them finding us with him."

"Hang on. Is that an intercom link?"

He checked it out. "Yes, it is. Why?"

"You still have that lousy helmet of Light's?"

"No, Cyclone shattered it, remember?"

"Oh, then put these in your ears."

X took them. "Earplugs? What've you got earplugs for?"

Zero smiled. "I figured if I'm battling anywhere near you, I ought to have them in case of Shatter Wave. It causes nasty headaches if you're not prepared.

"I guess so."

"Put them in. I'm going to try something."

"What?"

"Opera."

"Opera?"

"Just trust me. Put the plugs in."

"All right. But this had better work."

He put them in his ears and watched Zero singing some Latin opera over the intercom system. X kept glancing out the windows, to see if anyone was coming after them. But he didn't see any movement out there.

Then Zero tapped his helmet. He took them out. "Well?"

"Come on. We don't have long to escape."

X started for the door. "They have a teleport screen in the area."

"I noticed it on the way in. I hope I bought us enough time."

They left Doppler's house and ran into a group of Hunters outside, including Serges, Violin, and Agile. But they were all standing still.

"What'd you do to them?" X said.

"Sang with a low level Goddess ability," Zero replied. "It's called Awe. It's not degenerative like most of her powers I have, so I don't mind using it. It stuns them with the beauty of music. Opera seems to work best."

"I see."

"But it won't stun them for long. Come on."

"What else of hers do you still have?" X asked as they ran past. "I remember Awe now, as a file I couldn't translate, but there were quite a few others."

"Some really nasty things that can cause mental decay, probably in both me and the target. I'd rather not talk about them."

They rushed out of Dopplertown and made it back to the Shop safe.


	23. Those Who Pin Bugs to Boards

Cyber Peacock, Jet Stingray, Clover, and Iris were playing Risk in the parlor of the family's country estate. Violet was nearby cleaning up some decorative pottery and replacing the floral arrangements. Rose, Tulip, and Poppy were in the hall, giggling loudly. Poppy stepped into the doorway. "Hey girls, we're going out clubbing. Want to come along?"

"No way," Clover said. "I have to report back to base in six hours."

Iris rolled her eyes. "Besides, clubbing is beneath us. Trust me, I run the scams there and it's not worth the fuss."

Tulip said, "Oh, they're just spoilsports. Let's go already."

"I'm busy," Violet said.

"Hah," Poppy said. "Like we'd take you along."

"She wouldn't get in the door," Rose said.

"Later, losers," Tulip waved them off.

"They are such sluts," Iris said once they were gone. "Why are they even in our family?"

"I know," Clover said. "Poppa did well enough designing the rest of us."

"I honestly think it's because they are the oldest girls, so he slipped up some on them. Not that I'd tell Poppa that, but you know."

She grinned. "I've thought that myself."

"What are you boys conspiring about?" Iris demanded of her brothers, who'd been exchanging glances and gesturing silent conversations. The two of them straightened up in a hurry.

"Well, princess," Stingray said. He looked nervous. "You tell her."

"Why me?" Peacock asked.

"Because…"

"One of you should say something," she said sternly.

"Some rowdy metabike gang is planning on a riot at one of your pubs," Peacock said quickly. "The Triangle bar. They're, um, trying to give your business a bad name."

"So why didn't you tell me as soon as you heard of this?"

"It's his fault," Peacock said.

Stingray held his hands up. "It's not me! Look, princess, you know I'd never do anything against you. But some of my guys, they're the ones planning this. They think you're cheating everyone out of their money. It's not my fault, Peacock and I just overheard them planning it."

Before Jet Stingray faced the wrath of his sister, the front door slammed open. "Poppa, I'm home!"

"Oh great," Iris said. "The nutcase came home for once."

Violet put down the vase she was working on and ran into the entry hall. "Bluebell, are you okay? I heard about the riot at Dopplertown."

"There was a riot?" Cyber Peacock asked.

Bluebell came into the parlor with Violet. "I'm okay, but just barely. A hellhole opened up in that pretty place, so I got away. The nice doctor sold his soul to the devil."

"What've you got in that jar?" Clover asked.

"This?" She held up a canning jar with a lid three sizes too big for it. "Oh yeah, I found a bug on the way home! Isn't it pretty?"

"It looks like a robot," Violet said. "It is pretty."

"All silver and shiny," Bluebell said. "I'm going to pin it up."

"That's gross," Iris said. "Even for a robot bug."

"Where's Poppa?" Bluebell asked. "I've got to speak to him, then I have to cleanse myself of the evil vibes from Doppler."

"I know where he is," Violet said and led Bluebell down the hall.

Clover shrugged. "She's okay and she didn't get arrested. That's good, I guess."

"Yeah, but now we have to deal with little miss sunshine again."

"That's true."

Iris then glared at Stingray. "So what's with this riot?"

* * *

Later that evening, Bluebell was alone in her room. She picked up the canning jar and brought it to the middle of the room, along with a corkboard. She took off the lid and put the jar upside down. "Bug, bug, bug," she said. "Come out."

The robotic bug fell out, righted itself, then moved its feelers about.

Bluebell opened up a box of needles. "Now, which one to go with pretty bug?"

"Good evening, young lady." Bluebell put her needle box down and looked at the image of a beautiful human woman in front of her. "What's your name?"

"Bluebell. What's your name?"

"I'm the Reploid Goddess, I don't need a name. Now, Bluebell…"

"Why do you look like a human? If you're a goddess of reploids, why don't you look like us?"

"Uh, well…"

"Unless you're following that silly belief that most reploids would secretly like to be human. I think that's silly. I'm perfectly happy as a reploid. I mean, look what I can do." She twisted her left arm in a certain way, then popped it out. She held the ball socket in her right hand, so the left arm was still operable. "Humans can't do that."

The Goddess bit her lip, holding back her annoyance for now. "No, they can't."

She popped her arm back in. "And humans have to carry around all sorts of bulky equipment if they want to do things, like go underwater or see in the dark. Reploids can just get the right things installed and do all that on their own."

"That's true, but…"

"So there's no reason for you to be looking like a human if you're a reploid goddess. What are you, crazy?"

"That's beside the point," the Goddess said. She put her hand to Bluebell's head. "Now, just relax and listen."

"Besides, aren't you that bug there? If you just stayed as that bug and not projected such a silly hologram, then I'd take you more seriously."

The bug twitched its feelers.

The Goddess image squinted. "What's wrong with you? It's not working."

"What's not?"

"I have a special gift that makes reploids very happy. But for some reason it's not working on you."

Bluebell smiled. "That's easy. See, I'm manic delusional. That means I'm happy all the time. At least, that's what Dr. Doppler said, but he sold his soul to the devil, so he's evil and everything he's ever said must be doubted."

The Goddess put her hands over her face. "Good grief. I had to be picked up by the one reploid I can't affect…"

Then she stopped smiling. "Of course, I also keep myself holy. Are you evil?"

"That doesn't matter now. I have to find someone to properly control."

"Ah-ha, you are evil!" Bluebell snatched up a needle. "And I have just the thing for evil bugs!"

The Goddess was amused by the sight. "You're going to fight me with a needle?"

"A lead needle, specially designed to capture and restrain evil magic."

"Lead?"

Bluebell looked away from the Goddess and at the bug. "You're not getting away from me."

"No, don't do that!"

She swiftly pinned the bug to the corkboard with the lead needle.

The Goddess shrieked for a second before vanishing. The bug struggled during that time, then fell limp. Bluebell picked up the needle with the impaled Goddess. "That'll teach you. Stupid Goddess."

Her door opened. Colonel was there. "Is something wrong, Bluebell?"

"Eek!" she said. "Don't come in a girl's room without knocking!"

He blushed and partly shut the door. "Sorry. I heard a scream and was worried."

"It's okay, big brother. I'm banishing evil."

"Ah, okay. Whatever makes you happy. But don't scream like that."

"And you'd better knock next time."

"Very sorry. I'll remember that."


	24. Attack of the Furies

X was thinking about Dr. Doppler while walking along the city streets. With him dead, the Hunters could possibly access his patient files, including everything X had told Doppler. And that was a lot, far more than he wished anyone else to know. Yet it still wasn't the whole story. It was just enough for the doctor, or anyone else, to make X's life hell if it got out. He couldn't hack into those files and change them like he did his Maverick Hunter files.

It was one o'clock in the afternoon and he was already considering hitting up the bars. Then he could forget about this whole mess for a while.

He glanced up. It was a good thing he did. While he was passing an antique store, he spotted a full-length mirror out on display. He saw himself, looking rather glum, but soon focused on what was beyond. The X Hunters were following him.

"Great," he muttered. "The furies are out today."

Not in the mood to fight, he decided on trying to lose them. He turned at the next alleyway and walked faster. It wouldn't do to run; that would draw attention. He walked quickly, switching alleys, crossing streets, and finally entering a crowd of people on a busy street. Walking with the crowd a while, he reviewed the local area in his head. He picked to turn down another alleyway, one with service doors to five businesses. The end was walled off, but he easily wall jumped over to the other side. From here, he could catch a city train and be gone before they knew it. He hoped.

The alley he was now in was littered with garbage and garbage cans. It smelled like rotten fish. It was another service way for trucks, with only enough room for one. The buildings on either side were five stories high. The wall he'd come over was almost two. X walked briskly to the end of the alley. He was almost at the end when Agile appeared from the right. "Hold it right there!"

He tried to blow it off. "Hey, chill. I'm just taking a walk, that's all."

"You're not leaving this alley alive."

"I thought…"

"Doppler no longer counts for reprieves, maverick." He smiled. "And you weren't done anyways. You would have failed the test."

There was a loud thump behind him, then a long hiss. X stepped aside to look back while keeping an eye on Agile. Violin had landed at the other end of the alley. Serges passed above activating some gun looking device. It sprayed a fine mist at the alleyway walls. When it hit them, the entire wall became slick looking. Some sort of oil. His wall cling ability would not work here.

"Give up, X!" Violin called from the other end.

"We can take you alive if you wish," Serges said sternly. "But you will be kept in the highest security until your trial."

"You've done your research well," X said. "But I'm not going in quietly. You three can *** ***** **."

"Then you will die," Serges responded.

"Not likely." X quickly activated Gravity Well, snatched a full garbage can, and threw it at Agile. With him stunned, he dashed out of the alleyway and down the street. Using everything he had for speed, he got to the subway station and ran down the stairs. There was a small crowd, but no trains yet. X made his way through the people and jumped down into the tracks.

"I'm with the Maverick Hunters," Violin called out into the crowd. "Stand back. And you!"

X grinned. "Bye." He dashed down the tracks. Before long, Violin was chasing him. He didn't have the speed of Agile, but he was able to keep up with X.

He seemed to be the only one chasing him. X wondered why, then realized that Serges and Agile were probably tracking him from above and would assault him as soon as he broke surface. This wasn't a good idea. He just chose it because that's where he was headed anyways. He ran on the track, trying to think of something to survive this encounter. If he got to trial and found guilty, they'd delete him for certain.

The track vibrated under his feet.

X jumped to the wall in time for a subway train to pass him by. The clearance was small. He glanced back and saw that Violin too had felt the train. But it looked as if he'd just thrown something. X felt another vibration, not the train, but Violin's massive spiked ball landing past him. He grinned and was about to tease him for missing when Violin snapped his weapon back.

He had just enough time to notice and leap up onto the wall. Violin quickly stepped forward and grabbed hold of X's foot; he couldn't get away with the train still running. Once it passed, Violin yanked him off and threw him at the curve ahead. The spike ball came not that long after.

Now there was no point to holding back. He began charging and fired as soon as he could. It did minor damage to his enemy. This would be a long fight if he kept that up. So he activated Shatter Wave and screamed with it. In the closed space of the subway tunnel, the wave energy bounced off walls and echoed for miles. Several trains had to be pulled out of service for multiple cracks and shattered windows. X had enforced his armor to take such sonic shocks. Violin had not. As he cringed and put his hands over his ears, his outer armor shattered and fell to the floor. His spike ball cracked, but didn't fall apart.

X charged his buster and fired. Violin's inner armor was of lesser quality than his outer. All it took was another shot to pierce his power core and shut him down.

The other two were not going to let him get away with that.

He found a service tunnel and turned that way, uncertain of where he'd come out. It led him back to the station he came down to. There was still a crowd here, looking nervous after that disruption. X walked up the stairs, fully expecting to be attacked at the top. Then a kid ran up to him. She turned back and called, "Mommy, come on!"

X pretended to drop something and knelt down to retrieve his nothing. When the mother came up, he got up and walked with them. It wasn't like he was taking them hostage, he thought. He was just walking up with them. And surely the Hunters would not attack if he were walking close to a small human child.

Agile met them at the top of the stairs. "Hold it!"

The mother grabbed her child. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, sorry lady, I didn't mean you…"

"Put that sword up. You should know better than to have a weapon around a child."

The little girl clung to her mother.

X nodded. "Yeah. Excuse me." He walked by.

"Wait a moment…"

The mother grabbed his shoulder. "Now you listen to me."

X grinned and turned a corner. Then he started running. He got down one block before he heard, "Stop, X!" Agile had managed to get himself away from the mother.

Across the street, X spotted something potentially useful. He wasn't sure if it would work… but it was worth a shot. He dashed across the street and activated Gravity Well again. This time, his target was above him.

Agile raced over with his beam saber. X attempted to dodge and stay close to a restaurant sign. It didn't work; Agile sliced off part of his hip. The wound was very painful, but it wasn't leaking anything. It was worth it, as taking that hit gave X enough time to finish his Gravity Well attack on some screws. These screws were holding the heavy sign onto the post. It fell right on top of Agile.

X charged his buster and removed some of the debris. Agile was stunned and damaged, but active. He aimed right for his forehead. "Sorry, but you gave me no choice." He blasted the Hunter.

"You've killed my best friends," Serges said from behind X.

He turned. Serges was piloting a small hovercraft. Most people wouldn't give it a second thought, but X could see it was loaded with weaponry. "You threatened to kill me. Did you expect anything different?"

"I expected you to be wise enough to give yourself up when obviously outmatched. But it seems I gave you too much credit."

X dodged from a flurry of firepower. Quietly, he admired the responsive weapon system. But he wasn't on the controlling end of that system. He fired rapidly at Serges, but a force field was protecting him. While he seemed busy dodging and getting hit, X studied the hovercraft until he spotted a weak spot. When Serges shifted weapons, the plating shifted, revealing a small hole to the inner works. The time the hole was open was brief.

To hit it, X moved to his left. Then he jumped and grabbed hold of the edge of the craft with his right hand. Then he fired a regular shot into the small hole when it appeared. He let go in time for a plume of fire to burst out of the hovercraft. X's landing was painful, though. The gouge in his hip cracked further open. This'll be hell to repair, he thought.

Serges screamed as his craft crashed. He scrambled out of the wreck, but not in time. The crash had given him some open wounds as well, allowing streams of enflamed fuel to enter his body. Now on fire himself, Serges grabbed hold of X. "Dammit, if we're all going to die, you're going with us."

Nearby trees burst into flames as Serges pushed X into a window. Inside, customers and staff were panicking. Outside, X struggled to break free. Serges turned out to be surprisingly strong. "You're the one who lost this battle," he said bitterly. "It doesn't matter if you kill me too, it's still the truth."

"The truth is that… that…"

Serges' power core ruptured, shutting him down. X pushed the flaming corpse away and headed into the parking lot. The fumes were noxious, as if someone had dumped chemicals on the plants recently. His hair had caught on fire, but before he could think to find a way to put it out, someone blasted him with a hose. Coughing and sputtering, he got out of the way.

The restaurant employee who'd thought to hose him down turned his water source on the flaming trees. "You okay there?"

He touched his head. That fire was out, but he could feel minor burns. "Sure, thanks." He pulled out his emergency kit for some burn care.

"What were you two fighting about?"

"He threatened to kill me. What's that god awful smell?"

"Insecticide. We sprayed just this morning."

No wonder the fire burst so quickly. "The police coming?"

"And the fire department. Hang on a bit."

X considered the situation and decided to stick around. He gave a heavily altered version of the events leading up to the fire and a false name, then got himself excused to get his wounds better attended to. It was only a small fire. He hoped the police wouldn't investigate it too far.

Because the Maverick Hunters would take it and have him damned by sundown.


	25. Glitz, Glamor, and Gold

"You're all doomed to hell!" Forte yelled at some soldiers entering a military base. "Encouraging hatred will only lead to hellfire and damnation."

"Good grief," one soldier said. "We don't do anything and we get yelled at. Go preach in a church, fool."

"You're the fools," he insisted. "You go blindly where your commanders say, go blindly to your own deaths. Then there will be no chance to save your souls. Leave this warrior pen behind and led a proper life to salvation."

Rock came up to them and gave them some wildflowers. "Please, think of world peace instead. We no longer need armies to fight each other. Nature needs us to survive."

"Cute kids," the second said. "Annoying, but cute." They went in.

"Shoot," Forte said, sitting on his podium of milk crates. "They're supposed to tremble for their sickly souls, like I did. Why aren't they?"

Rock came over and put a daisy chain on Forte's helmet. "Perhaps you shouldn't be so harsh. Make your words beautiful and the souls will come. Beauty gets everyone."

"Maybe."

"Hey, isn't that your brother?"

He looked up. "Yeah it is. Hey Zero!"

He waved. "Hey Forte, Rock. What are you two up to?"

"Trying to convert the military," Rock reported. "It's not going well."

"What are you doing?" Forte asked, putting the daisy chain on Rock instead.

"I've become a mercenary. There's a girl that's supposed to be here. I've protected her several times over the past six months. She called me up an hour ago, wouldn't say what for, just to be here."

Rock smiled slyly. "You like her?"

Zero smiled back. "She's cute, but I wouldn't say that to her face. She's got a very rich and powerful family, so I keep quiet on my own thoughts."

Forte looked at him skeptically. "And you've been protecting her?"

He shrugged. "It's a girl thing, I think. She's got stalkers. Creepy ones too."

Rock handed him a daisy. "Maybe she likes you."

"That'd be nice, but I'm expecting to get paid for whatever she wants me for today. Oh, wait, no, that's sounded really bad."

The other two were already laughing at him. "You'd b-better not be doing that," Forte said, trying to maintain his religious prophet status while laughing. "Otherwise I'll have to come smack some sense into you."

"No worries there."

Iris came out of the gate. "Hi Zero, nice to see you again." She frowned as she saw the three of them trying to calm their laughing fits. "What are you three up to?"

Zero shook his head. "Nothing, Iris. Just my brother and his friend teasing me."

Iris glanced at the daisy chain decorated Rock. "Your brother?"

"No, this is my brother, Forte. The flower child is Rock."

"Whatever. Come along. You need to meet some people before this evening."

"You two behave now," Rock said, inciting another laughter fit from Forte.

Zero waited until they'd walked down two blocks. "Sorry about them. Can never tell where and when they'll show up."

"I've seen 'em around before. They come out to our casinos and scare customers off. We've tried to get them for it, but the law won't touch sidewalk preachers."

"They mean well. Want a flower?" He offered her the daisy.

Iris frowned. "That's a weed."

Zero looked at it, then stuck it to his helmet. "Weeds are flowers too. So you work at a casino?"

"I own the whole casino. The White Lion line; ever been to one?"

"Not to the casino, but I've gone to a few of the pubs before."

"You ought to come. Just ring me up some time and I'll make sure you get treated right. Friend of the family, you know?" She put her finger to her lips, as if it were some sort of conspiracy.

"Maybe. So what did you want me for tonight?"

She giggled. "You ought to say that dirtier."

He fought blushing. "I'd rather not."

"Oh, fine. You're going to be my escort for tonight's gala ball at the Golden Bricks Casino. Big event; if things go right, I'll be buying the place out shortly."

"You're hiring me for a date?"

"Of course I am, silly. It's a huge deal and I don't have a boyfriend suitable to bring."

"That sounds a little weird."

"Not really. All my sisters will have hired dates. Probably hot dancers or ugly rich guys like usual. They've been taunting me for ages now that I haven't gotten a looker for these events, and if I don't outdo them now, I think Tulip's gonna shove me out of the way. I won't stand for that. So when this came up, I figured you'd outdo any guy they can scrounge up on the strip."

"You know, this isn't what I had in mind when I offered to protect you."

"You really gonna split me on this? You get paid to accompany me into an exclusive club event, just hang around and look nice, have whatever you want off the five star buffet, and maybe even piss off a couple of my sisters and their dates. I thought you'd like something like that."

"Well, if you put it that way, sure. I'll come along." Besides, she was pretty.

"Good. Now, hurry along, we have to get you prepared, then I need to introduce you to the family, and then we're off to Golden Bricks. That's a lot before evening."

"Get me prepared?"

"This is a glitzy event. You'll need to get really classy armor, not that thing you're wearing now. Don't worry, I got that covered. You just have to help me pick out a dress in exchange."

Clothes shopping with a girl… "Sure. But no messing with my hair, got it?"

"I want it cleaned up better, but that's all I'll ask."

"I can go with that."

* * *

"Do you think the rhinestones are too much?"

"Oh no, you look fabulous."

"You look like a cupcake, Cyber," Iris said as she and Zero walked into the armor shop. It was glitzier than X's gallery.

Cupcake was an apt description. Cyber Peacock had changed all his tail feathers to white with clear rhinestones and pearls. His body armor was shimmering white with sequins and the crest on his head held more white feathers, curled, with a pearl edging. On his feet, he had high boots in white and rhinestones. He looked startled. "Oh, princess, there you are. Do you think this is too much? I figured tonight would be a major social event where we'd have to look the cream of the crop."

"No you're perfect. Jet could use a bit polishing up though."

Jet Stingray's armor was lined with corded edging on every line. He wasn't ornate like Cyber was, although the beaded fringe hanging off his wings was a bit much in Zero's taste. "I'm not done. Cyber just needed another opinion on his latest creation."

"You need something special for tonight?" Cyber asked, "Or do you already have a dress armor?"

"This is important; of course I'm here for something new. It'd better be good. Also, we need to dress my escort properly. This is Zero; he works as a freelance bodyguard. These are my artsy brothers, Cyber Peacock and Jet Stingray."

He shook hands with Iris' brothers, but at the same time felt like quitting right now and going home. These guys were going to provide their dress armors? If Zero wound up covered in rhinestones and beaded frills, this was going to be the most embarrassing night of his life. "Hello."

They acknowledged him a second, then Jet said, "Iris, I've got a lovely silk-enhanced model you need to try out. It's exactly how you like it, I made it just for you."

"That's sweet, I'll see about it. What do you think would work on him Cyber?"

"I haven't worn many dress armors," Zero admitted. "At least not like that."

"New at this? Don't worry, you're darling already, there isn't much that can go wrong on you. Here, hold still."

He did so and wondered if he should be worried about being called 'darling'.

Cyber touched one of the joints. "Hold on now, I know this craft. This is from Maverick X's shop, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"How do you know that?" Jet asked.

"Oh, just look at him. X has an eagle eye for quality and fluidity. His designs are rather simple, but he makes such a statement. I am so jealous of him. I've been trying for years to get him to work with me, but he is just a stubborn old goat."

Iris rolled her eyes. "About tonight, Cyber. We don't have much time."

"Right princess."

"I'll show you my piece," Jet said. "Come this way."

"Fine. But I want to approve before an hour's up."

"Certainly." Once she was out of the room, Cyber muttered, "An hour, dear lord. You are a brave man for being her escort, Zero."

"I'm what? I think she's a nice girl, although she could take her pride down a few notches."

"And her temper. I'm warning you, don't get her mad. You'll regret it."

"Okay. So about this social party,"

"It's a gala ball." Cyber studied Zero's hand. "You don't have much experience in high society, do you?"

"None at all."

"Right. Well…" he thought. "That guitar…"

Zero glared without thinking. "Nobody takes Angel from me."

"You're a musician?"

"Yes, a hundred percent."

"Don't worry, I wasn't thinking that. Is that really an authentic Jewel Tectonic?"

"Absolutely. She's my pride and joy."

"I hear you completely, it's marvelous. You know, I think I can find something to match the guitar perfectly."

Zero smiled. "I'd like that."

* * *

"That will do quite nicely," Iris said, as she admired them in a mirrored wall. Her dress armor made her look like a gypsy, well, a very rich gypsy with real jewels on the neckpiece. She was very beautiful.

"I feel like I belong in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," Zero said.

"What are you talking about?"

He grinned. "Your brother did a good job, especially cause he matched my armor to my guitar. It's a good thing."

"All right, if you say so."

Zero still had the daisy, so he tried to put it on her shoulder. "Now if we just attach this here…"

"What, no!" She laughed as she brushed the daisy off. "Cute, but I am not wearing a weed."

"We could go get some more wildflowers and make a better corsage out of it."

"That is a good idea, but I know a lovely florist who'll do a much better job than wildflowers. Gracious, what would people say to that? And don't you put it back in your hair again."

He reluctantly put it on a low wall. "If you wish. Hey, I could get that corsage for you, if you like."

"Aw, that's sweet of you."

Unfortunately, she had expensive tastes in flowers. Zero went ahead and bought her the seventy-five zenny orchid she liked. It wasn't a huge deal like the dress armors, which he did not even dare to think of the price she'd paid for them again. The only reason he'd checked was to give X a comparison for his custom jobs later. These were way out of his league.

Then it was time to meet her family. Or 'the family', as she put it.

They went into her resort hotel casino, the White Lion, and went straight in back to a private wing. There were a lot of reploids back here, all of them extravagantly dressed. "The guests are gathering here?" he asked quietly.

"No, this is the family."

"All of them?" He looked about skeptically. There had to be over fifty reploids in his sights.

"Well, there's my family, at the core of the family of Repliforce. Got it?"

"The family of Repliforce… okay. What exactly do you do?"

"We get very rich," Iris said plainly.

"Obviously."

"Perhaps if you would like to be in on the family, we could explain it a bit more in detail. But you would have to pass Poppa's approval first."

He was getting the idea this wasn't entirely legal. But neither was X's business in its entirety, so he knew how to shut up. "I see."

"Hello, princess," someone in front of them said. It was a tall, sharply dressed reploid male in black and gold armor. Standing next to him was an even taller reploid in what appeared to be completely golden armor. It was stunning. How did he get that much gold?

"Hello. Zero, this is my father, General, and my closest brother, Colonel. And this is Zero, my sometimes bodyguard and my escort for tonight."

"It's good to meet you both," Zero said politely. He shook hands with them.

Then the golden General spoke. All Zero heard was gibberish. He concentrated on keeping a straight face.

Colonel smiled in amusement. "Good to meet you too. The General says you certainly have the air of a warrior, although you look like a pansy."

"Looks don't mean anything, especially when fooling others."

General chuckled, and he took that as a good sign. He spouted some more mumbling gibberish, which Colonel obediently translated as, "Just be sure to take care of our princess with respect and honor. She has a lot on her hands tonight." Colonel added on, "And if you don't, I wouldn't mind thrashing your pretty blonde self into a pulp."

General scolded him with a tap.

Iris said, "You don't have to be that way, brother. And watch the comments you make about his hair; I've seen him punch the daylights out of someone who called it girly."

"He had it coming to him," Zero added.

General spoke more nonsense.

"The General says that you have every right to be proud of that, especially since you keep it that long. And that Tulip's going to throw a hissy fit when she sees him. But Poppa, she really deserves something like this. She's been a total bitch lately when you're not around."

"No kidding," Iris said.

The General shrugged and said something that he found amusing. It didn't get translated.

"We'd best get a move on," Colonel said. "The ball opens shortly."

* * *

They certainly treated Iris like a princess. She and Zero got sat at one of the best tables in the restaurant, in full view of everyone else in the room and with an excellent view to the stage where a live jazz band was playing. That sort of center of attention-ness compelled him to have absolute excellent manners. So even though the steak plates were really tempting, he took small portion of fish. Even though he was used to speaking whatever came to mind, he watched everything he said. And even though the glitzy rich pretentiousness got to him a lot, he politely smiled and bluffed his way through the evening.

And it was a very important business night for her. Zero watched and listened as Iris spoke to dozens of rich important people, impressing those that needed to be impressed and intimidating those that needed to be intimidated. Especially the couple that currently owned Golden Bricks. At one point, when they weren't looking, Iris rolled her eyes at all the social games they were making her play to acquire their resort.

Zero's main job was to make her look really good, and he had to admit, he was getting to enjoy it. At any point someone thought to notice and speak to him, he made certain that they knew his opinion of her was that she was smart, beautiful, better than every other female in the room, and it was an honor just to be tagging along with her tonight. Actually, he spotted some nice looking female reploids that could easily compete with Iris, and he was hoping to get a fat payment out of this evening.

Still, some of the looks she threw him when he was complimenting her made him hope that she meant those looks. And the constant repetition of praise was becoming sort of real. It was a strange feeling. He reminded himself several times that she was the client and he was the bodyguard.

Iris was currently chatting with Rose, the oldest of the Repliforce girls. And a total airhead in Zero's opinion. If she didn't understand something, which was often, she would smile and giggle, hoping that would cover her ignorance. Then Tulip showed up with her escort, a human with long red hair to the middle of his back.

Introductions were made around the group. Tulip's human was Mark something-or-another, and probably had been hired like Zero was, just for the evening ball. "What's he do?" Iris asked.

"He teaches karate and yoga," Tulip said. "So what does your girly man do?"

"He's a mercenary," Iris said.

"I usually do personal guarding, assassinations, intelligence work, temp Marine work, honor dueling, stealth missions, and some other things too secret to speak of. But I couldn't resist coming along with your lovely sister tonight. She has a way with words."

Rose giggled. "Aw, he's a sweetheart, Iris. You ought to keep a hold of him."

"He even paid for my corsage," Iris said. "I'm surprised you didn't get one too, Tulip. Both Rose and I have one, and you usually do."

"Of course I have one," Rose said. Then again, it seemed her escort was actually her boyfriend, judging by the fact that they couldn't keep their hands off each other.

"I didn't have time," Tulip said, trying to brush it off. "This was a last minute invitation, you know."

"For all of us, yeah. Did you not even have time to get a new dress?"

"You'd take any excuse to go clothes shopping."

"And you wouldn't?" Rose said.

"Oh, Poppa," Tulip said, for the General had come by, "Iris and Rose are being such ninnies."

He said something to her that made Rose and Iris giggle. "What was that about?" Rose's boyfriend asked when Tulip stormed off and the General moved on.

"He said at least they have proper dates."

"What language exactly is he speaking?" Zero asked.

"Poppa speaks English," Rose said.

"But he refuses to," Iris explained. "He sticks to Italian. Very stubborn about it, but he's important enough to get away with it."

* * *

"That was sort of fun," Zero said. Iris gave him a questioning look. "Not really."

"Well, sorry. It was official family business after all. But you did an excellent job. I think Poppa likes you."

"That's good. I don't think I want to be on his bad side."

"You may keep that armor. And here's the base check I originally negotiated. I'll see about getting you something more because you did much better than I hoped for."

"That's the point." He took a quick glance at it. Two thousand zenny, plus a high-end armor, and she might get something more. He didn't react externally, but internally, it was way more than he'd charge for a single evening of anti-stalker guarding.

"Would you like in on our Repliforce?"

"I'd rather stay independent for the time being." Actually, it had to do with his enormous debt to X more than anything. "But I'll keep you as a priority client."

Iris smiled playfully and touched his arm. "So, now that our business is done, would you like a personal date with me later on?"

"Are you still dealing your family business?"

"Not this time. You're not too bad, for a merc."

"Is that all?"

"So maybe I want to know what you're really like. What do you say? Sometime next week?"

He put on a show that it took some deciding. But actually, it didn't. "I might be available. But if I'm paying, you're not choosing."

She shoved him gently. "Oh, you… well, I suppose I shouldn't fuss over that. Please?"

Something about how she said it and how she looked when she said it made him smile. "Okay Iris."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Turning Repliforce into a mafia seemed natural to me, since I was twisting all sorts of other things about the X series about.


	26. The Lesbian Reploid Theory

When Zero got back to the shop, it was very quiet. The offices were all dark. Maybe the others had gone out partying. But something felt odd. Zero wasn't quite sure what. The building seemed ghostly.

On a gut feeling, he went downstairs to the repair labs. Lab C was lit by candles. He peered in and saw X at a table with paints. He looked involved, but he still spotted Zero's new armor. "You look like freaking Sgt. Pepper. Where's the tall hat?"

He chuckled. "It's just this. It did feel weird, spending all evening without a helmet. And look, it matches Angel perfectly."

"So, what, you cheating on my business now?"

"No, I didn't have to pay for it. Guess what it cost?"

"That shiny bit? Hang on." X got up and turned the lights on. Then he rapped the chest plate with his knuckle. "Aesthetic alloy, no good in battle." He glanced about certain spots. "Not a single additive. I could whip out a copy in four hours flat for three hundred."

"It was twenty-six hundred."

"For non-battle armor? Yikes. That is a crime. Where're they selling this cheat suit? And more important, would they deal?"

"Diamond Heart, at the White Lion Resort shopping center. No, it was the 'merchandise path.' I think you have to be a certified maker for their company."

"Oh, you mean the vanity king Cyber Peacock. I'd stay as far away as possible from that place. It's a casino. They want all your money."

"Yeah, well I was guarding a Repliforce chick at some glitzy party thing and she insisted on getting it for me. I didn't have to pay for it because I sat through her trying to find a dress armor as well."

"So you're getting paid to watch some girl go shopping?"

Zero rolled his eyes. "Actually, I was there to look pretty and make her look even better. But I got paid really well for an eight hour job."

"Dude, you get another job like that, you bring me along too."

They laughed. "Maybe. You know what this Repliforce business is? She kept saying she belongs to 'the family' and all sorts of stuff."

X nodded. "Of course, they're a mafia. The casino bit is mostly legal, but they get into other stuff too. I hear they support the Cult, but I ain't heard that proven. I do have proof they do massive scams and bribing schemes. And they kill those that they don't like. Dangerous group to get involved in, but they are very rich reploids."

"She's a pretty girl. Name's Iris. I've got a date with her next week."

"Iris? You mean a cute chick with long brown hair and big brown eyes who wears red and blue all the time? I met her."

"Oh yeah, Clover did mention you."

"I asked Iris out one night and she threatened to have me creamed."

"You did just meet her once."

"You never know with chicks. Sometimes they say yes and sometimes they slap you. And some do both, but that is something entirely else."

"So what've you been up to?" He glanced at the table. "Painting walnut shells?"

X picked up the painted shell carefully. "Do not mess with the painted walnut. It's a very important part to my secret project."

Zero chuckled. "Your secret project involves painting magic seals on walnuts?"

"Just this one. It's a new technique I've come up with for timing… I mean, by the time I get those special parts, it will be a very bad time for…"

"For what?"

"I'm not saying anything until I know this will work. This has taken a lot of time and money already, but if it does work, it will so be worth it. And from now on, nobody messes with this walnut."

"Talking about money, what do I owe you?"

"Pardon?"

"I mean, you've been working on me for several years now and we aren't done..."

"Actually, you are done."

"I am?"

"The tests I ran yesterday came up clear and optimal. You should be having no problems from now on; if you do, it's your own **** fault."

"Okay, so what sort of money do I owe you? I know my parts aren't cheap."

He shrugged. "I dunno. I've got totals somewhere in the shop's database. I was so interested in how you were working so badly off-kilter that I never thought of charging you for it."

"And I'm using your offices."

X closed his eyes, and for a minute, nothing was said. Then when he opened them, he shrugged again. "You're a friend, I suppose. Don't worry yourself about it."

Don't worry about it? "O-Kay… if you're fine with it…"

"Just don't go telling other people about this, right?"

He smiled. "Right."

* * *

It was a night Iris was on the job, visiting various businesses she owned. Including the reopened Jumbles Bar, where X and Zero still frequented, despite being the cause of the total destruction of the building some years ago. It took her a moment, but she recognized X as the nutcase she'd run into at the turn of the century, hanging out with her boyfriend of six months now. They and a group of reploids were laughing over something at the bar.

Zero noticed her first. "Hey Iris!"

X grinned. "Hey, chicky-o."

Iris nodded. "Hello Zero and a crazy maverick."

"You got that right," X said before taking another drink.

"You want to join us for a bit?"

"I can buy ya somethin' if you want."

She shook her head. "I'd better not. On the job."

X swirled his glass. "And why should that stop you? Never stopped me before."

"You're a freak."

Zero laughed. "She's got you there. But come on, we're all friends here, right?"

"Okay, maybe one drink, but then I've got to be going."

"All right, one drink."

"You say one drink," X said, "but you mean several, aye?"

"That would be your case."

"Oh yeah."

They didn't seem to notice she took a non-alcoholic drink. Well enough. She sipped at her glass. "So what are you two doing here?"

"You gotta hear this," another reploid in the group said.

Zero laughed. "X is claiming we're all lesbians."

Iris eyed him warily. "You're what?"

X looked at her. "Hey, haven't I run into you before? I think I kissed you once."

"Only because you were drunk out of your mind."

He laughed. "Oh, so you do know me."

One of the others elbowed him. "Quit stalling! You'd best explain yourself or I'll cream you against the wall."

"Hold your horses, geez. What was I talking about?"

"The whole lesbian reploid thing," Zero reminded him.

"Oh yeah, the gender conspiracy. Okay, here's how it goes. Reploids are made to be bi-gendered, right? But a species doesn't need to be bi-gendered unless it is reproducing sexually. Now, how do reploids reproduce?"

"We do that?" one of the others said.

"New reploids are built, not born," Iris said. "It has nothing to do with sex."

"Right, so asexually. Now, whenever you have an asexual reproducing species, science always labels the individuals as females. Always. So that means, no matter what any particular reploid looks like, we are all female. Thus we are all lesbians."

"Whoa," one of the listeners said. "Weird."

"Never thought of it that way," Zero commented.

X grinned. "Oh, it gets even better. In order to make a new reploid, the creator has to have specialized training and education so everything is done right. Therefore, only a few reploids can make other reploids. I have the necessary training, but none of the rest of you does, am I right? Therefore you are all sterile females and I'm a queen."

Iris shook her head. "You've been thinking about that too much."

"No, that's as far as I've gotten with it."

"Bah, we don't have to listen to this nonsense anymore. Who's up for poker?"

A good number of their audience left, leaving just the three of them sitting at the bar. Iris looked at the two of them. "So you two are here discussing reploid sexuality?"

"Not really. We're just hanging out," X said.

"Talking and doing crazy stuff."

"We're always doing this."

"You two friends?"

"More than that," X said. "We live together."

"We hang out and go to dance clubs and stuff."

"And sometimes we even go out in drag. Those are the best nights, I tell ya."

"Aw, come on," Zero said. "It's been a while since we last did that."

"Yeah, it's been too long. Come on, we can go hit the queer bars and try to get some chicks."

Zero started laughing. "Dude, you messed up so bad that night and you want to try that again? I mean, that one missy whapped you upside the head so hard I had to drag you home."

X snickered. "I just won't go for the muscular ones this time, yeah?"

Iris was trying not to stare at them. "You do that?"

"Sure."

Zero shrugged. "I haven't much lately, not since I've been going out with you."

"Just not the wilder stuff. There's some other things…"

X got playfully slapped for that. "Hey, watch what you say."

"I am! I ain't cussed her out yet, have I?"

"That's true. But you're a bad influence."

"I try my best."

"So how're you doing lately?" Zero said, trying to deflect X from continuing.

Well, Iris thought, the night had been going good until I ran into you both. Together. She felt puzzled and slighted. "Okay, I guess. You still going out with me tomorrow night?"

"Of course."

"Good, well, I'd better be going. I have a lot of places to go."

"Sure, you can have him tomorrow," X said. "I'll be done with him."

"Done doing what?" Zero asked.

"You know…"

Iris decided it was a good time to leave. "Sure, well, later then."

"Good night honey."

"Good night, sleep well," X started singing.

"Can the lullabies!" Zero said.

* * *

Iris came into her father's suite. "Poppa! I have to talk to you!"

"We're in here, princess," Colonel said. "Do you need me to go?"

"No," she said as she came in and fell into a chair. "You can stay."

"What's bothering you, my dear?" General said in his usual Italian.

"Something horrible happened tonight. It's my boyfriend, Zero. I think he's cheating on me."

"I knew that boy was trouble," Colonel muttered. "Who's the other girl?"

She sat up and emphasized with her hands. "It's another guy! That's what's so horrible. He's living with another man."

"Just living together? That's not bad."

"Not just that. I met with them at one of my bars. They were talking about doing stuff together, like cross-dressing and going to gay bars. I never thought he did that, but it seems so."

"I told you. I didn't trust that guy at all."

General gave him a stern look. "You're just overprotective, Colonel. But, yes, this is a disturbing development. We could humiliate them both. Or even get rid of them for you. If their perverseness requires it, I mean."

Iris shook her head. "No, not them both. I still love Zero, and I know he'll be fine if I train him up to be a proper boyfriend. No, I want you to get rid of his boyfriend, Maverick X. He's a complete nutcase and pervert. Both of them acknowledged that X is a bad influence on Zero. Get rid of him and I can clean up my man."

"I know of this Maverick X," Colonel said. "He's known for courting human girls and cannibalizing dead reploid parts for his business, but none can prove any of his crimes, because he's so good at covering his trails. I tried to recruit him, but he insulted our family and refused to have anything to do with us. Prefers to work alone, he says, so I couldn't find much to rebuke him with. I didn't suspect he was a queer as well, but it fits with his personality."

"He's a horrible man," Iris agreed.

"I see. Well, I will set some eyes to watch him for a period of time. You say you met them at a bar, and you know how loose drunken tongues can be."

Iris felt infuriated, but kept a calm demeanor. "Yes, Poppa."

"If we confirm that he is involved deeper with Zero, I will have those eyes murder him in an appropriate manner out of view of your man. Otherwise, perhaps you will just have to encourage Zero to stop drinking, at least with X."

"Very well. I trust your judgment."

"Good. Now, would you two leave me for the night?"

"Yes, Poppa," they both said obediently.

Iris didn't show any sign of anger until well away from her father's door. "Dammit," she muttered.

Colonel touched her shoulder. "Hey, princess."

"Yeah?"

"You certain this X is corrupting Zero?"

"Yes. Zero is a good honorable man. He wouldn't do anything wrong if he wasn't influenced to by that pervert."

"I've dealt with X, and I distrust him far worse than Zero." Colonel shook his head. "Not that I trust Zero entirely. He doesn't deserve a fair lady like you. But I agree that X must be taken care of. After that, I'll have to see how your boy develops."

She smiled sweetly at her brother. "That's wonderful of you, Colonel."

He smiled back, always bending to his sister's smile. "Sure. I know father's eyes and if I can, I'll influence who he sends. I can think of a certain individual who would be willing to prove X black to save your honor. It is only a matter of time now, dear Iris."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I knew I had to get Iris suspicious about X and Zero but I had some trouble trying to figure out how. Then a few friends and I started joking late one night about the 'reploids as asexual females' thing, which morphed into the lesbian reploid theory when someone pointed out Zero and Iris. Oh the crazy stuff you come up with when over-caffeinated late at night.  
> Anyhow, that seemed like just the thing Maverick X would joke about, and Iris would take offense to.


	27. Double Spies

X was downstairs, working at a computer. The setup for his secret project looked absurdly complicated. Some of that was fluff to make it look that way. Not that he'd ever tell what was real and what was fluff.

A nearby monitor beeped. Someone was coming down the stairs. X hit a few buttons and covered up his progress. Then he kept typing away.

"Hey, X!"

"What is it, Dyne?"

He popped into the lab. "Someone upstairs is asking about renting space in the garage."

"Hell no. This is my shop."

"He's offering a lot of money. And you ought to see what he dragged in."

"Oh, fine." He locked down his project information and went upstairs. There, his eyes were instantly drawn to the vehicle. It was an old automobile, a relic even older than his brothers. But he knew what it was on sight, and what a treasure it was. "An Aston-Martin still around? Damn… and that one's a beauty."

"That it is," the owner said. He looked frumpy and unworthy of his vehicle. "And your shop is the best I've seen yet. You must do a lot of business. Are you the owner of this place?"

"Yes, I'm Maverick X."

He shook hands. "Splendid. My name is Double. Would you please consider allowing me an area to work on my antique? I know it can still run, but there's hardly a place in the world that I can get this sort of work done in. Certainly none in Europe."

X had eyes only for the car. He came up to it, checking telltale areas. "The engine blown? The shell looks perfectly fine."

"Yes, let me show you."

He opened up the hood. "Let me guess, you just bought this car."

Double looked a bit ruffled. "Yes, good guess."

"Not a guess. You got cheated. The outside's a perfect Aston-Martin all right. But this engine's not. It's not British, or even European. Japanese. I'd say you go sue the guy who sold this to you for all he's worth."

"Oh dear."

"And there ain't nowhere left in the world you can get an original company engine for this car anymore. However, we can make an excellent reproduction engine and help you install it. Right guys?"

"Aye," Black Dyne said.

"I was going to work on it," Double said quietly.

"If you thought that was the right engine," Reno said, "you ain't qualified to work on an Aston. But don't worry; we'll get the job done perfectly."

X glared at Reno. Even if he was right, you didn't say that to a customer. Especially not one that was rich enough to buy a cheated Aston-Martin.

"We can either put in a historical reproduction," Dyne said, "top of the line, of course. Or we can put in a modernized reproduction, so you won't have to pay a killing for old standard gasoline. It'll run exactly the same whichever way you go."

"You can help if you still wish to," X corrected. "I'll make sure my guys guide you in making the right choices for this car. Come up to my office and we'll work out a deal, all right?"

"Or you could go with a thoroughly modern engine," Dyne rambled on, "If you don't care about complete historical accuracy."

"Sure," Double said. He followed X back to the third floor office. "I could have sworn everything was okay with it…"

"Some hucksters will do anything for money," X said. "But our shop concerns itself more with the machines than with the money. You may have noticed my guys both human and reploid are passionate about vehicles. I'm sorry if some of them were rude about it. I try to teach them manners, but with mechanics, it's difficult."

"That's fine if it means I get the best possible job done on the car."

X smiled. "I can guarantee you that."

* * *

Iris was the youngest child of General. But the smallest was Violet, who was the size of an average ten year old. She was designed similarly to her sisters otherwise. Why did she have to be the small one? She didn't really know and was a little intimidated to ask. She had no battle equipment whatsoever, while even crazy Bluebell had one weapon. Never mind that Bluebell's weapon was only a large hammer. It was more than Violet had.

Violet's main job in Repliforce was as an errand girl, housekeeper, secretary, and assistant to Iris when needed. She wasn't fond of Iris most days; she had tantrums like the spoiled brat she was. But she acknowledged Violet's intelligence and abilities, on occasion. To everyone else, even Poppa, Violet was unimportant and non-vital.

Today she had a plan to change that. She was going to prove herself vital and important. And she had Iris and Colonel to thank for that, oddly enough.

General was sending a spy to check out allegations that Iris' boyfriend Zero was dating a guy, Maverick X. His spy was Double, and had no idea what he was going in to do. Neither Colonel nor Iris expected him to do well. So they asked little Violet to spy on X, Zero, and Double. Her plot was simple enough. Ask Maverick X for a job. He was advertising in the newspaper for an office worker. Just what she did best.

She showed up in the garage an hour later than Double. He was off speaking with the mechanics about the car her brothers got a hold of. Violet tapped one on the arm. "Excuse me, but I came to see about the office worker job. Who do I speak to?"

"Maverick X. He's up in the third floor office right now."

"Maverick?" she asked innocently.

He grinned down at her. "It's a nickname, kiddo. He's not an actual maverick."

"Oh, okay. Thank you."

Double had yet to notice her, occupied in trying to solve the mechanics' jargon. Violet walked up to the third story office and knocked, even with the door open. "Come in, miss," X said. "What are you here for?"

"About the office worker job your newspaper ad asked for. Here's my files." She handed him a resume chip.

He put it in a reader and read it over. "Violet, huh?"

"Yup."

"What do you want a job out of Repliforce for?"

Oh, shoot. "What are you talking about?" she said with a shy smile.

"You don't fool me. You're one of General's kids. I see your brothers in here every couple of months and your sister's dating my friend. And I have other sources. So what are you really here for?"

When in trouble, go with the flow and try to keep out of more trouble. "Well, my family doesn't respect me much. It's hard to do when you look like a kid and your job is basically as a glorified servant. But my Poppa won't give me an adult shell to match my mind. So I figured if I got a job on my own, I could get an independent fund to get one. My family won't pay for the alterations; I've tried everything." She shrugged. "I didn't know you would know about Repliforce so much."

"You're a member of the richest reploid family in the world and you can't have funds for upgrading yourself?"

"No."

"That's harsh," he said with surprise sympathy. "Are you going to be able to hold a job full time and keep it quiet?"

"I think so," Violet said, swinging her legs a bit in played nervousness. "No one pays me much mind."

X pulled her resume out of the chip reader. "Well, provided this information is legit," he gave her a playful grin, "you meet my requirements. And, knowing your family like I do, I would be willing to play a deal with you alone. Or you may take regular pay, whichever you wish."

"What sort of deal?"

"I am a reploid mechanic and well qualified to produce an entirely new shell for you. If you wish, I could make you one in exchange for your work. That will require you to work until your earnings equal the cost of your new shell, after which I will pay you normally. And to prove I'm not going to cheat you like certain members of your family would, I won't take the cost out of your pay until we agree upon a design and figure up an estimate. And I'll put it in a written contract so that estimate is all you have to pay, no matter what problems may come up. Does that sound workable?"

"I'll have to study your contract fully," Violet said professionally, "but I could work with that."

"Good. Let's get you some employment forms and I'll inform you of your duties."

* * *

A week into the spying, a comfortable routine had appeared in the shop. The mechanics worked on the Aston Martin as much as they could get away with it. Double was given small unimportant tasks that could easily be fixed when he wasn't looking. Considering General's tastes, Double decided to have them make it into a show car, with the engine adapted for modern fuel cells, but otherwise to original specs. The engine was made with careful attention to detail and quality.

And while they did that, Double asked questions, fishing around for what General wanted to know. There were a number of people in this shop, and any one of them could be the target. There was the boss, Maverick X, who worked downstairs in the reploid labs with a cheeky reploid named Iron Panther and a very quiet human named Landon McKay. There were the vehicle mechanics, Black Dyne, Reno, and Arcanine. There was some guy named Zero who hung around a lot and did something rather secretive in his first floor office. But the most suspicious thing was that Violet was working as secretary for this non-affiliated shop.

* * *

By now, Violet was getting to like the arrangement. X was a good employer, a rough individual on the outside, but kind on the inside. The mechanics were friendly, even if some could not be broken of patronizing her. Zero was a good man too and she could see why Iris would like him. And the questionable relationship between Zero and X? Well, they were close friends and X was a bit too fond of innuendos. But Violet didn't take Iris' suspicions seriously. It wouldn't be the first time a single vague comment threw her into a scandal of rumors.

"Hey Violet," X called out as he came up to the office where she was working.

"What is it now, X?"

He plopped down in the chair across her and put down an electronic sketchpad. "You're about off; any plans after work?"

"Not really."

"Good. Then we can work on your new shell."

"Great! I don't have anything important to work on right now."

"I figured so much. You're doing well. Now, do you have any particular wishes for your new shell? Do you want me to just age you, or do something radical?"

"Well, all my sisters look similar. I want to be completely different. Surprise them all."

"Just about anything will surprise them."

"I want to be a catgirl."

X raised his eyebrows. "Oo, hot sexy catgirl doing my office work. Sweet."

She giggled despite blushing at the same time. "No, not that suggestive. I'd rather it be cute, you know?"

"I can work with cute. Do you have any current battle or special abilities I need to know about?"

"No."

"You want any? Within reason, of course."

"I'd like to have some sort of battle ability. Mostly for self-defense, you know."

"Sure, self defense… I'd suggest small claw weapons, retractable, because you're going to be a cat. And some sort of shock or stun weapon, because those are excellent for defensive fighting."

"Okay. Can you make my tail so it can hold things too?"

"Prehensile? Simple. But that does restrict you to short fur if you decide to go that route. It would be more expensive to have fur installed, so I suggest just sticking to metal skin and hair in the normal places."

"Sounds good to me."

X and Violet worked out the basic design plan over the next two hours. She'd be shorter than average, but in an acceptably adult shell. Her face would remain much the same, except for altering her ears to cat ears. So basically she'd look like a short human in a cat suit. But that worked for Violet. X said it would take a month to complete if nothing went wrong.

* * *

Two weeks into the spying, Iris decided to drop in and see how they were doing. And she was curious to see where Zero lived.

It was all concrete and steel and smelled of machines, sparks, polish, and bleach. The furniture was horribly mismatched. There were pictures decorating the walls, but they were either spray-painted graffiti or rock band posters. And in order to get to the closed off living building in back, you had to walk through the shop.

She didn't like it.

Iris spotted Double trying to comprehend Dyne's mechanical explanation and look interested while doing so. There was a reason she and Colonel didn't trust him. She walked up to the nearest reploid. "Excuse me, have you seen Zero?"

"Who're you?" Arcanine asked.

"I'm his girlfriend, Iris."

"Oh, well, he's up in the second floor gallery with Angel."

"Angel?"

"Yeah, he calls her his baby. Absolutely adores her."

Iris did her best not to lose her temper there. "Oh, I see. Thank you."

He grinned. "Sure, cutie."

She went up to the second floor of offices. The gallery took up the whole floor and was filled with armor designs that Iris would have been impressed with if she wasn't so mad. Zero was sitting in a chair playing a guitar. Violet was in the room, listening while working on a mIC. She smiled at Iris, but only briefly.

"Hi Zero," she said as sweetly as she could. It would make her temper sharper.

Zero smiled at her with no clue what was coming to him. "Hi Iris, this is a pleasant surprise. Come in, you can listen to Angel and I sing songs."

She glanced around, but it was only her, Violet, and Zero. "Angel?"

"Yes, my darling guitar. She's my oldest friend. Iris? You okay?"

Iris sat in another chair, trying to disguise her embarrassment. "You call your guitar Angel?"

"Of course. She has a voice like one, don't you agree?" He played a melody, which somehow proved Angel was a wonderful guitar. "What's up, you seem agitated."

"It's nothing." She put her hand to her face. "One of those mechanics was teasing me."

"They're good guys, a little rough. Which one was it? I'll speak with him later."

"Some orange guy with spikes on his armor."

"Arcanine? Yeah, he's a bit too fond of tricks. Don't worry about it. I'll sing you something. Anything you want to hear?"

"Oh… I don't know. Something you like, I guess."

"I don't think you're old enough to know the stuff he likes," X said as he walked through the gallery from a side room. He was arranging display armor on a mannequin.

"So, I have the afternoon off and I wondered if you wanted to go somewhere," Iris said. Hopefully he got the hint.

"Anywhere in particular?"

"No, just somewhere, just the two of us." Might as well make certain.

"Hey, we can take my metabike and go to the lakeshore. Rock told me this morning that the wildflowers are in good bloom over there."

Out to a lakeshore to look at flowers, on a metabike even. "That's a nice thought, but there isn't much to do out there." Her actual thought was that date idea was low class and boring.

"It's real pretty over there," Violet said.

"Who cares? It'll be the two of us. Doesn't matter where we go, it'll be great."

Iris wasn't so sure. "I suppose. Your… metabike can hold two, right?"

"Sure, easily. It's a two seater."

"Actually, more of a one and a half seater," X said. "Especially with Zero's hair."

Zero grinned. "You do have a point."

X winked at them. "It'll be a nice cozy ride."

"Um, I don't know about that…"

"It's okay. If you're not comfortable with it… mind if I borrow the sidecar?"

"Nah, go ahead. See you later."

"Well, I've never ridden on a metabike before," Iris said. "Not exactly in my league, you know?"

Zero hugged her when she got up. "It's cool. I'll take it easy."

"Have a good time," Violet called.

* * *

"Bluebell is safely out of the house now," Colonel said. "Hopefully, she won't be skipping back home in the next few days."

General nodded and tugged at the locked chain on the door. "But why did she lock up her room so tightly?"

"I've got it." Colonel cut the lock off with his beam saber. "She claimed she was trapping a hostile spirit. It seemed whenever I spoke with her, she mentioned the evil bug lady and trying to keep her secured."

"She's always pinning bugs to things. Although, this is a bit much, even for her."

General was speaking about the state of Bluebell's room. There were dozens of little bells hanging by strings. There were spirit traps and charms hanging on the wall. On the white tiled floor was a giant circle motif painted in black. Rugs were piled up on the bed and all the furniture had been moved off the giant circle. In the center of the circle was a circular corkboard with safety runes drawn onto it. In the very center of the corkboard was a shiny robotic bug on a needle.

Colonel and General walked over to the pinned bug. "She made all this for that little thing?" Colonel asked.

General plucked the needle off the board. "This little creature is a masterwork of engineering. At least in appearance. I wonder if it will still work."

"What about Bluebell's belief?"

He chuckled. "She gets strange ideas and won't give them up. There's no true evil in the world." He slipped the bug off the needle.

It lay still for a moment, then began to move. It righted itself. Then a blast of energy filled the room. Bluebell's bells jangled until they were torn from their strings and flung out of the window. The traps and charms unraveled or snapped, depending on material. And the giant circle motif caught on fire. Blood red fire.

The Goddess appeared, looking a bit pale. But she now looked like a reploid, just with some silk accessories and golden scarab earrings. Her long blond hair was loose. "Damn little bitch," she swore. "Putting me under all those shields. She's going to pay."

Both Colonel and General drew their weapons. "No one insults of our family," Colonel said. "Not even the crazy one."

"Calm down. I'm sure I can explain things in a clear manner to both of you."

"What the hell are you doing?" Colonel said in a panic.

"It will be clear in a moment."

Then her touch fully engulfed them, and everything was clear. The Goddess knew what she was doing, and she was right. "Yes, lady," they both said.

"Good. Now, explain what I am doing here and what has been going on while I've been trapped."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I admit, the car was picked at random.


	28. Flying Islands Never Last

At the end of the month, the Blasted Machine Shop was done with the Aston Martin. Double paid them and thanked them for it. Then he took the antique car back to General's country estate. He resisted the urge to wreck the car, instead holding his temper until he got in to report.

"You're back early," Colonel said.

"You messed up on the car," he growled at them.

General was there, along with Iris, Poppy, Clover, Colonel, and General's four other sons; Jet Stingray, Storm Owl, Slash Beast, and Cyber Peacock. The eight of them were head bosses under General.

Storm and Slash looked at each other. It had been their job to get hold of the antique. "It seemed all right," Storm said.

"For this purpose, of course," Slash added.

"You should have gotten a proper mechanic to look it over first. They almost blew my cover in the first ten minutes. It had the wrong engine in it. So I couldn't 'fix' it because they knew I was no mechanic."

"So they fixed it?" General asked.

"They rebuilt the whole engine. And the mechanic in your garage commented that it was an excellent bit of work."

"And how about the shop itself? The men, the boss, everything."

"They are dead serious about their work. They've got both humans and reploids working side by side. I heard not a single serious argument the whole time. The place is relatively clean and well lit. The crew can use some manners, but their craftsmanship makes up for any rudeness. And their boss is the most talented one of the bunch."

"What about him? Who is he and everything."

"He goes by Maverick X. He claims he's not the best vehicle mechanic, but he was right in there with him. He does custom armor design, mostly battle types, and he's damn good at it. I saw a few displays in his gallery that put everything we have to shame. He also is a healer; about the fastest one I've ever seen. I got a buddy to come in with a broken knee joint and X had him fixed up in thirty minutes. I didn't get a chance to see him battle, but I'm sure he's an ace at that too."

Iris kept her tongue, but was getting annoyed. This was supposed to be about unmasking X's corruption, not his elite skills. The way Double was going on, uninformed as to his true mission, General might want to hire X instead of kill him.

"And that's on the job?"

He hesitated. "Well, yes. Off duty, he is quite different, as with most people. He drinks quite a bit, and cusses, and flirts with just about everyone. Male and female alike when he gets on a roll. I talked them into letting me tag along on some of their drinking nights, and they're a rough crowd. The last night I did that, he and I got to talking. I'm not quite sure; I think he was hitting on me, but just when I thought I'd tell him I wasn't interested that way, he'd laugh it off like it was a joke, only to keep it up a few minutes later. X is a hard one to read, although there was that other guy."

"What of that?"

"It's not really pertinent to the mission, right? To gather information about his shop?"

"What's pertinent is for us to decide."

Double nodded. "Right, so sorry General." He bowed. "There was this reploid in the shop, Zero, who operated out of the first floor office. I never found out what he actually does, but he is no mechanic. If X isn't out drinking on his time off, he's often on the garage floor with Zero playing loud guitar and keyboard music. They sing really well together, actually. But they seem to get along a little too well, if you get the drift. X spends a lot of time in the shop basement and won't speak a word about what he does down there. And if you can't find him, you usually can't find Zero either. X uses the third floor office, yet sometimes you find them both in the same office chatting like schoolgirls or something. I didn't hang around them both much, because they made me a bit uncomfortable when they were together. But outside of that queer trait, he's the best damn mechanic healer around."

"That doesn't matter," General said. "He's dishonored us and he is going to die."

Finally. Iris smiled inside. It was unprofessional to smile on the outside.

* * *

Violet flicked her new tail. It felt completely natural. "Feels like I've always been this way."

"Excellent," X said. "Everything seems to be in working order. I don't think you'll suffer any side effects of the shell change. Just don't do anything strenuous or out of the ordinary for two weeks. That's to make certain you get used to this."

"Okay. I can't wait to show my sisters this."

* * *

"Iris! Colonel! It's me, Violet."

The two of them stared at her new catgirl shell. "Violet?" Iris said in confusion.

"What happened to you?" Colonel asked.

She swished her tail. "I changed my shell. You said you wanted me to get close into X's operation. And I did. He does good work."

Colonel tapped Violet's armor and looked it over like a warrior. "Gracious, Double was right. X is a master armor maker. He did the whole shell himself?"

"Yup, design and all. He just asked me what I wanted, and he made it."

"Where'd you get the money for this? Poppa will be mad if you took any without permission."

"From my own funds. I got a job specifically to raise money for my new shell. And X charged a fair price for it. Gave me the total figure before he started and stuck to it. The whole was three thousand zenny."

"That is a fair price."

"What is it Iris? You haven't said anything."

"It's horrible for you to change your entire shell without warning," Iris said sternly. "You were just fine as you were."

"I didn't like looking like a kid. And I've told all of you many times I didn't want that shell anymore. You should have seen it coming."

"It was still a surprise," Colonel said.

"And your mission was to research X and Zero, mind you."

Violet nodded. "Yeah, I did that too. I think X was playing mind games with you. He messes with everyone, especially when drunk. They are friends, but they're more brothers than lovers. Like Slash and Storm."

"You're wrong on that count," Colonel said. "Double actually came through and reported the truth. They are lovers."

"But I didn't notice anything."

"Gah," Iris shouted, "You're more naïve than I thought you were! Anyhow, despite your rosy visions and cattiness, Poppa has decided to put a death watch on Maverick X."

Violet gasped. "But he's not that bad. He's been kind to me."

Colonel grabbed her neck. "You're not to tell him. We'll make certain of that."

"But sis, brother…"

Iris glared at her. "If you don't watch yourself, we'll report your betrayal of the family to Poppa. He will not be pleased with you."

Before Violet could think to use her new weapons, Colonel and Iris locked her into an interior closet. "We'll deal with your issue later," Colonel said. "Right now, we have important business to attend to."

* * *

"Hey, Rock!"

He looked up from his painting. "Oh, hi Proto! Look, I'm getting really good at this." He showed off his landscape painting, of the area around Detroit from above on the Sky Lagoon.

He smiled. "That's real pretty. But you might wish to leave the area. Trouble's brewing."

"And I might want to leave?"

Blues ruffled Rock's hair. "Actually, I don't mind you staying. It would help a lot. But as you're a citizen, I have to at least advise you so."

Rock picked up a backpack and put his painting and supplies back inside. "Okay. What's going on?"

"There's a standoff with what we believe is Repliforce. They're a reploid mafia that's been pushing its luck with our Hunters for a bit too long. At the moment, someone is threatening to drop this floater out of the sky."

"That will cause severe casualties."

"I know. But the messages we're getting are too garbled to confirm them. If it is Repliforce, we don't think they'll seriously drop it; the leader of 'the family' is General. He's not here, but his five sons are, and they're unlikely to drop it with them on."

"But they could teleport off at any moment and it could be someone else."

"Right. We need to warn people off from the top and out from the under. But be discreet. If the leaders gets word we're evacuating, they will likely drop."

Rock activated his battle armor. "I see. I will be careful."

* * *

The Blasted Machine Shop was run on solar panels on the roof, and most of the time was self-sufficient. When the energy flickered as the backup started during the middle of the day, X grumbled and kept working. He went with solar power so he didn't have to pay electric bills. But this month had been so stormy he might have to now.

Stormy… no, it was supposed to be clear today. He turned off the music player on his IC and tuned in a news channel. As he did so, X noticed an email alert. The address was hidden. No problem. He traced the email's path and discovered it was sent from a Repliforce computer. It could be either Cyber Peacock or Colonel still trying to persuade him to work with them. To be on the safe side, he opened it after setting the IC's security measures to high.

'X: You have disgraced yourself and insulted many. For that, you will die shortly. Good riddance.'

Short and to the point. X shook his head. It was their policy, he knew. Either work with them or be killed. Well, maybe he could hassle Cyber until he explained better. The wording of the threat was odd. Disgraced himself?

Then he heard 'Repliforce' on the news channel.

"It seems Repliforce, an exclusive reploid organization, has taken over Sky Lagoon and is threatening to cut the engines over populated areas. Law enforcement agencies say there isn't enough information to explain why or even confirm if Repliforce is in charge of the standoff. But they are taking no chances and are ordering anyone currently under Sky Lagoon to get to safe areas, either underground or in another city." They displayed the endangered area, which included the Blasted Machine Shop.

His first thought was that it was overkill for an unexplained insult. His second thought, as he looked at the room around him, was that he could not move his current project at this stage. After he'd worked almost ten years in secret on this project, Repliforce would destroy it in seconds and X could do nothing about it.

No, he could. He had to. X checked the other labs and found Panther. Landon had the day off. "Doing anything?"

"Calibrating the scanner in here, then I have an appointment in…"

"It's canceled. Come with me." He went upstairs and shut off the main radio to get everyone's attention. "Get over here, there's something going on."

"What's with the power?" Reno asked.

"Some **** idiots are threatening to drop Sky Lagoon, which happens to be right over us. I want you guys to split asap; you've got the rest of the day off, so scram. Zero, would you mind coming with me?"

Zero followed him up to the armor gallery. "What're you up to?"

"If they wreck the shop, I'll lose everything and there's no way for me to get the important things out. So I'm planning on hijacking the hijackers and getting that floater off my back. You coming along or not?"

"Sure. Who's got control?"

"They're not sure, but it may be Repliforce."

Zero paused. "Oh, well… still, you're right, we ought to get it moved to a deserted area. Or even over the lakes."

"Not the lakes. You want a different armor?"

"Nah, I'm fine."

X quickly installed and activated his most recent custom armor. "Let's get 'em."

* * *

Storm Owl was in charge of navigating the Sky Lagoon during the standoff. He moved it from the low-density business sector it had been in to a high-density business and living sector, to make the threat more sinister. Repliforce had been manipulating Sky Lagoon since the design phases: bribing union leaders to not give opposing offers, using shortcuts, arranging business layouts, arranging floatation patterns, putting insurance scams into play, and many other plots made the satellite community one of Repliforce's major sources of income and tax evasion. Currently, they had a puppet community leader in charge here. Or, he had been a puppet. Lately he'd been trying to escape their strings, and last month had not paid his fees.

So now they were using the floating island for a risky gamble. The Maverick Hunters had been stalking the family for years and were coming uncomfortably close. Clover had infiltrated the Hunters and bribed a number of the staff members to keep incriminating evidence hard to find, but she was falling under suspicion. On the other hand, the Cult of the Goddess had been courting the family for years, in hopes of getting money for their extravagant dreams of a reploid utopia. Repliforce didn't care for utopia, as there was little money making potential in it. And they did not wish to fall into the addiction and weaknesses of the Goddess chips, although they wouldn't mind selling the increasingly pricey software. But Cultists would not make a seller out of a non-user.

The gamble was to hold this standoff, but at the last moment, switch personnel around and get the blame placed squarely on the Cultists trying to overtake the island. There were already 'proofs' in the hands of island security and Repliforce family members. Repliforce would nobly turn in top Cultists while stealing the secret production process of the chip. With that knowledge, they would flood the drug software market with cheap weaker versions, undercutting Cult-sourced Goddess chips. And they'd try to produce a more potent or longer lasting variant on the side for a steeper price. That would secure Repliforce's reputation and finances for many years to come.

It would be Repliforce's monetary utopia.

Of course, everyone had to follow the plan precisely as ordered. The dice had to be rolled at the right time, angle, and speed to get a perfect result. Storm Owl held the island's position until ordered. He heard someone approaching him, but did not pay it heed. Regular workers on Repliforce's white list, he figured. But they weren't supposed to grab his shoulder and face him with an arm buster.

Maverick X glared at him. "Move this **** rock or else."

Zero was leaning on the doorframe of the small room, glancing about the hall. "You might wish to do as he says," he advised. "He's in a killing mood."

"Hey, I'm just watching it. I'm not controlling the flight pattern."

"Sure. It's just straying off its usual course by about five miles on its own. Nothing to do with you and your steering mechanisms."

His sarcastic words gave Storm Owl enough time to recognize this pair as the ones who'd dishonored Iris. However, she had been insistent that Zero be spared. So Storm struck X hard.

His entire arm ached with the recoil. X blasted Storm in the shoulder, knocking him off the chair. Zero activated his saber and put the point right at Storm's ear. "Watch yourself." Without looking away, he asked X, "Can you fly this rock?"

He dropped into the chair. "Can't be that hard."

He smirked. "Right, and when you crash this thing, I'll remind you of that."

"You have insulted Repliforce, X," Storm said angrily. "Your death was already decided. Now it will simply be much more painful."

Zero barely singed Storm's ear. "You're not in a position to be making threats."

"Here we go," X said. "Moving out of the way. Decent speed for a flying city."

Storm waited for several minutes before making his next move. Then he attempted to roll out from under the saber point and blast X with his wind weapon. He could then teleport off the island and give warning they'd been hijacked. His miscalculation came in assuming Zero was of normal speed and ability.

X spotted the kill in a blank monitor. He whistled. "Nice move."

"He was a pushover," Zero commented. He glanced down at Storm. "I'm going to get in so much trouble from Iris about this."

"Don't worry, Iris is a nice chick. And she seems crazy about you. We can talk you out of this. I'll back you up."

"But he did say they want you dead."

"So do dozens of other people. ******* jerks. They've asked me repeatedly to work for them and I keep saying no. They threaten and bribe, but I won't work for those losers. All they care about is money and profits. Course, your girl seems all right."

"Maybe she's going out with me in an attempt to leave them," Zero thought out loud. "Even if they treat her like royalty, they ask a lot of her. There seems to be no real love, except of profit and who can make it big. Maybe her time is running out?"

"Who knows? Good, this hunk of floating rock is out of my patch of sky. Let's head back."

"What about him?"

X smirked. "Ah, leave him and let Repliforce take the repercussions. If Iris gets in trouble, we can offer her safety at the shop and clear her name of anything. Promise."

* * *

Colonel entered his father's office. "Poppa, the Hunters… whoa, sorry Goddess."

She was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the floor, her eyes unfocused. She didn't pay him any heed.

General got up from his seat. "It's all right, she's been doing that for a while. What were you saying about the Hunters?"

"Right. They've arrested Clover and have her under surveillance. They also have agents on our grounds, so they must suspect us in the standoff."

"I knew that," General said, pointing to his IC, which was displaying the news. "We just need to hang on a bit more, and…"

"Drop the island now," the Goddess interrupted.

General paused. "But the plan was for…"

"Never mind that. He's on the island and the best way to set things straight is to drop it right now."

"Very well," he said as he entered the command.

"About Clover, should I send the other girls after her?" Colonel asked his father.

"Good idea, give them the word."

He nodded. "Good, because Iris gave the order already. I don't know why she said to ask you, but…"

General chuckled. "So that you wouldn't be tagging along. Now, what else is on your mind?"

"It's about Violet."

* * *

There was a teleportation blockade over the island, to prevent anyone from porting on and off as they pleased. The few teleport gates had small but reasonable fees. As they were approaching the nearest gate, Zero started acting oddly, wincing and tapping his head. X glanced to him. "What's up?"

He shrugged. "I'm getting the weirdest feeling. Like someone else is watching us through my eyes."

"How's that possible?"

"I don't know." Before he could explain more, a huge explosion ripped through the island understructure, knocking both of them off balance. "What was that?"

X tried to steady himself, but the ground kept shaking. Zero grabbed him and balanced both of them with his superior gyroscope array. X felt momentarily vindicated that he went to all the trouble to secure that. "Good thing I moved this **** rock. Otherwise, my shop…"

"The city below's in big trouble."

They both decided to run for the teleporter. "I aimed it to nearby farmland. We should be close to the rural areas now."

"X, Zero!" The shout came from the side. A glance revealed Rock skipping along a crack. He was making slow progress, as he lacked not just stride distance, but also X's dash jets. "You guys okay?"

"Yeah, but we're getting off this flying heap."

"Stay there, Rock," Zero called. "I'm navigating this better."

He did so. Zero darted over, picked him up, and easily carried him while counter-balancing X. "I hope the teleporter is whole," X said. "None of us have flight abilities."

"I hope Proto's okay," Rock said. "He asked me to help him evacuate the island."

"Evacuate?"

"Repliforce moved the Lagoon over the city and threatened to do this, so the Hunters have been secretly moving people off the past two hours. You two weren't told to get off?"

"Nah, but I heard about it on the ground," X said. Zero was busy concentrating on keeping them all from slipping through the multiplying cracks. "I moved the island because it was right over my shop when they went public."

"They were wondering why it moved again. That's good of you."

"There we go!" X spotted the teleport platform. It was whole, for the moment.

Suddenly, a burst of flames flew over their heads, followed by a burst of jets. "You Repliforce jerks weren't supposed to drop it yet!" the flame flyer said.

"You dropped it, you dirty Hunter!" the jet flyer replied.

"That's Magma Dragoon," Rock said as Zero put him down.

"That was Jet Stingray," Zero replied.

X hurriedly put in codes for off the island. "Hold together…"

* * *

Dr. Cain was on vacation; a much needed one. The Great Lakes were one of his favorite places in the world, and this bed-and-breakfast farm was just outside of Detroit, far enough away to lack the noise and the bustle. It was a beautiful place.

Sky Lagoon moved overhead. He frowned, puzzled. The owner had reassured him the satellite did not have this area on its flight path. Maybe they had a pilot in training that did not know any better. He went back to his book.

His com unit had gone off repeatedly today. He was ignoring it. He was on vacation for goodness sakes. Sigma had reassured him that nothing would happen that he had to know about immediately. But finally, he checked the text messages.

'Sky Lagoon falling apart,' the latest one said. 'Evacuate the area immediately.'

Falling apart? He looked up.

Sky Lagoon was falling.

Oh great…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And Dr. Cain dies as a result of Sky Lagoon falling on top of him. I think the canon explanation for his lack of involvement after X4 is that he retired out of guilt, as he had designed Sigma, and Doppler, and Repliforce, all while being one of the good guys. You either feel sorry for the guy or become suspicious of his true nature from that.


	29. X Must Die

"Stingray is one of the Repliforce bosses and General's son," Zero said as they looked at the burning hill of rubble in the Michigan farmland.

"Dragoon is a Rank-A Maverick Hunter leading Squad #14," Rock said. "Proto introduced us last time I visited him on the job. But it sounded like both of them were involved in blowing up the island."

"Only neither of them did it," X pointed out. "At least by what they say. And there was that Repliforce guy in the pilot's office."

"Storm Owl," Zero identified. "Another of General's kids. He has twelve, mostly girls."

"Blues said only his squad was sent in to evacuate the Lagoon. Dragoon shouldn't've been there." Then Rock's com band beeped. He glanced at it. "Step back you two… hey, this is Rock."

"This is Sigma. Sorry to jump your signal, but your brother tells me you helped them with the evacuation and wanted to make sure you got off safe."

"Yeah, I did. But as I was getting off, I saw Magma Dragoon and Jet Stingray flying off talking to each other. Should I come back and tell you more specifically?"

"Yes that would be helpful… Dragoon is AWOL… and we need something to get a better warrant on Stingray."

"Right… um, hang on a sec." He flipped his com off. "Sorry, I'd better go."

X shrugged. "That's all right, you're the hero. I'm gonna go chase down Stingray. I've got some questions for him before he gets arrested."

Rock nodded. "Sure. Be careful." Then he turned the com back on. "Okay, I'm ready now." He vanished a moment later.

X pulled out a personal transporter and typed up some codes. Then his bike appeared. "Sorry Zero, but it's for your own good."

"What is?"

He fired up his bike. "I'll cover you for the Storm Owl problem. I have to ask Stingray why they want me dead specifically. And if you want to help Iris, you have to stay clear this time."

Zero nodded slowly. "Right. So how will you find him?"

X pointed up. "I see him."

Up about a hundred feet, Stingray and Dragoon were still arguing, but the specifics couldn't be heard.

"He looked like he wasn't trying up there, so I will need as much speed as possible. Look, if you want to keep that girl, go back to the shop and call her. Tell her you heard Repliforce had something to do with it, but forcefully deny unless she admits to it. Just say you're worried and that you'll help her out if she thinks she's in trouble."

"Since when are you an expert on girls?"

X grinned. "Since I started seducing them on a regular basis. Tell her what she wants to hear, and she'll stick to you. Now, if you don't mind, it seems I have some chasing to do."

"Right. Good luck."

* * *

Jet Stingray flew for home. What the hell happened? Who blew the generators too early? And who moved the Lagoon from over the city? It would be convenient for him to blame the Hunter, but they had been in the same room when everything went to hell. In his mind, he gathered a proof that he had not been the guilty party. Which he wasn't.

In a fowl mood, he happened to look down and who should be chasing him but Maverick X. Personally, he thought Iris was blowing everything out of proportion. It would be like her to do so. But still, he was on the Repliforce blacklist and conveniently here to take the blame for this whole screw up. Stingray smiled and rapidly dove behind X. Then he rushed ahead, getting ready to kick X out of the seat of his bike.

X saw the move coming and swerved out of the way. "I want to talk to you, you damn fish."

"I'm a string ray." He turned on his com unit and instructed it to broadcast it to all his brothers. "What do you want, X?"

"Storm Owl said you lot want me dead. What in hell do you want that for?"

"You were on the Lagoon?"

"****, you put it right over my shop. Of course I was there."

"What did you do to Storm?"

"Him? Killed him. Served him right for trying to destroy my shop."

"You killed Storm Owl?"

"Why do you want me dead first."

"Because you're a perverse son of a ***** who deserves it!" Stingray tried to collide with X again, but he braked suddenly.

X thought of trying to run for it, but Stingray started shooting missiles at him. He dodged instead. Firing his buster while controlling Black Cat would be too tricky, and he'd not installed weapons on his bike. That was an invitation to arrest. That left his weapon copy system. Once Sonic Slicer was charged, he maneuvered Black Cat so that Stingray was ahead of him. Then he quickly raised his right hand and let loose.

Sonic Slicer was a handy weapon, but not all that spectacular. He kept it around because it could snap wires from a distance, like on security cameras. Now charged up, it produced a cyclone of spinning blades, tearing Stingray's shell to shreds. That was impressive, he thought, as his enemy crashed to the ground.

He parked and walked over to the body, which was smoking. He checked Stingray's outlet ports and got no response from his central core. There was some electricity still flowing, which meant he could be revived if there was appropriate machinery around. Otherwise, in a few minutes, nothing could bring him back.

'Weapon Copied,' his system reported. 'Ground Hunter.'

"Ground Hunter?" he asked aloud. "From a sea based reploid? Whatever."

He started back for his bike, but then heard furious screaming. He turned just in time for Slash Beast to strike him with long claws. "Damn you!" he screamed. "You killed Storm Owl!"

X ducked and dashed out of another mad swiping. Now he detached his left hand and charged his buster. "He threatened me."

"You've denied us, you've insulted us, you've cheated us, and now you've murdered my brothers! You deserve something far worse than death." All the while, he kept attacking relentlessly.

Zero would have no problem with this guy, he found himself thinking. But with Slash in his face constantly, X was having problems concentrating his energy on charging. He tried rapid firing Sonic Slicer, to no effect. He didn't have time to pause for Shatter Wave, and he doubted Gravity Well would do anything here. The only other weapon he had in system was Ground Hunter. He fired that.

It turned out to be the mini ray missiles that Stingray had fired. Um, sure… but it did a number on Slash Beast. Blasted his skull plate open and cracked his central core. There was no way to salvage him from that injury.

'Weapon Copied: Twin Slasher,' the copy system reported.

He tapped his head. "All right then." He wasn't sure how much use it would be. It sounded like a claw or blade attack, and he had neither. It would probably get erased.

"You have killed all three of them, then," Cyber Peacock's voice came over both com units. "You bastard."

X moved over to Jet Stingray. His transmission device was whole and exposed. There was a chance he could hack into the com system and talk to that narcissist fool. But there was no need.

"Meet me at the public library or else I will hunt you down and take you apart screw by screw. You have an hour."

The com units switched off.

All right then. Off to the public library.

* * *

Zero called Iris' com number a dozen times. But she didn't answer and he had no way of tracking her signal. "Dammit."

Normally he didn't swear. It was the result of Forte watching over him in his early years, he'd figured out. His older brother had tried his best to instill proper ethics into him, although he was learning those himself at the time. It had worked, somewhat, but Zero's passion was music, not religion, and Forte could never understand that. Art was his highest priority, not morals, although that came in close behind.

But this was a good moment to start cussing.

* * *

Blues and Rock walked down the halls of the Maverick Hunter base. "They pulled us out once it began breaking apart. I'm sorry I didn't get a hold of you sooner."

"That's okay," Rock said. "X and Zero helped me out."

"You told me a while ago Zero was one of Dr. Wily's projects."

"He is. I didn't trust him initially."

"Understandable. I wasn't sure about him myself, not after the paranormal activity that coincided with when I met him."

They held off the conversation while someone walked through the hall. Once she entered another room, Rock went on. "I still feel a bit wary around him. But he's been friends with X for a while now, he helped me without hesitation, and he hasn't attacked anyone without reason. We might be able to trust him like Forte."

"Have you tested him in any way?"

"I keep getting interrupted. Based on his own actions, he seems fine so far."

Blues nodded. "But seeming isn't being."

"We should keep watching," Rock concluded. "But we can be friendly."

* * *

Iris' com unit buzzed again. "Stop calling me," she muttered. She finally blocked that signal. Zero's obvious concern for her would have been touching to anyone else, but Iris was busy. "Keep attacking!"

From another tank, Tulip called back, "The Hunters are throwing too much power at us. We should turn back. I think Poppy's been hit."

"You lot should have been paying attention in training," she said from her tank, "instead of glossing over movie stars."

"I don't want to be here," Rose whimpered. "Let's go home."

"Chicken. We have to help Clover."

Another round of heavy fire. Iris' tank got an engine blown out. Rose came back over the com. "Poppy's dead, and so is Tulip! I'm scared!"

We weren't really made for this type of fighting, Iris thought angrily. "Fine. Retreat." If only her idiot brothers hadn't messed up on Sky Lagoon. Then this mess wouldn't have happened.

"Good. I'm g…"

Then Rose got blown up.

"Someone's going to pay for this," Iris grumbled. She hit her emergency teleport and went home just before her tank got nailed as well.

* * *

Clover was in a force field cell, doing meditation exercises. She was very calm. She had expected this moment for years. And she would go through with it. She twisted a glass jar around and around. It had a tight seal.

The Hunters she used to work with approached and surrounded her cell. "Traitor, you will speak with Sigma now."

"I will not betray my family," she said calmly.

"You have no choice. We have destroyed the tanks they sent."

As she thought. Only her and Iris were any good at tank operations. "Fair enough."

"What do you have?" one of the other Hunters asked upon noticing her jar.

She put it in both hands and smiled. "You will see."

She smashed it on the floor, releasing the concentration of Vexxon inside and killing everyone in a ten-foot radius.

* * *

Violet kicked the door and finally got it open. She darted out and looked down the halls. No one seemed to be around. The estate had been awful quiet lately. Still, she ran for the exit.

When she got to the entry hall, she ran into a mass of sticky webbing. "Eww," she said, as she pulled the stuff off her.

"Pretty little kitty," a voice said behind her. Violet turned and saw a reploid mushroom standing behind her. His eyes looked hazy. "Pretty pretty."

"Back off, toadstool," she said, holding out her sharp claws.

"Ah, nononono," he said. "Mushroom, see? Split Mushroom. And Web Spider."

Violet looked where he was pointing and spotted an arachnid reploid clambering along the web strings to her. This didn't look good. "Hey, I'm one of General's daughters. Better not mess with me."

"We are Cultist generals," Mushroom said.

"Chosen by the Goddess herself," Spider added.

"Is the General around, perhaps-y?"

"We're on business."

"I don't know. I'm going to work so let me go. Besides, Poppa won't be happy you made a sticky mess of the entry hall."

"All reploids should be happy happy," Mushroom said. Violet realized these two were probably high on the Goddess chip. Great.

"On business," Spider repeated. "General comes."

Mushroom called out, in surprisingly good Italian, "Hail to our friend General!"

"What are you two doing in there?" General asked, annoyed. "I told you our business was done."

"Poppa!" Violet called out, "these two are being freaky. And Iris and Colonel locked me in the closet for no good reason."

"There is good reason," General told her. "You have betrayed our family."

"What? I did no such thing."

"You've been working for our enemy more than for Repliforce. You have been spreading lies and trying to undermine your siblings' authority when you had none in the first place. And you have altered yourself without my prior consent."

"I'm my own person. I can change my shell if I want to."

"Not in our family. You two may do with Violet what you please. I must be off to the station."

Violet's eyes widened. "The station? What for?"

"We're backed into a corner now, and you need know no further. Carry on Cultists. If you have new business to conduct, it must be conducted later."

And he left.

"We can keep the pretty kitty!" Mushroom said.

"How nice," Spider said.

"Hey, let me go!"

"The General keeps order in your family, so you must do as he says, little betrayer," Mushroom taunted. "Come on, sticky her and put her in the truck."

Her com unit got too sticky to operate properly, but she was able to send a text message. Hopefully to the one person who still cared about her.

* * *

X arrived at the public library in ten minutes. He got off his bike and looked around. Cyber Peacock should be obvious to spot. He ran the Repliforce armory and was obsessed with fashion and armor making. But Peacock was all about the look of the piece, about making a statement. X was interested in making the armor useful and practical. Form followed function.

But he couldn't see the vain bird anywhere. He walked onto the grounds, keeping his senses peeled. He felt a cold breeze behind him for no apparent reason, then was hit by a laser weapon in the shoulder. He spun around. His armor was barely scratched. "What the hell was that for!"

Peacock vanished. "It was supposed to kill you," he said from behind X. "It should have worked."

"If I was wearing one of your fluff armors, it would have."

He teleported again. "Fluff? Your armors are hideously plain." And again. "There's not a bit of beauty to them at all."

"They do their job," X said, warily watching around him. Peacock kept teleporting. "Which is far more than your pieces do. Look at you! Your armor must be weak if you have to keep jumping about."

He appeared in front of X and sneered. "Is that so?"

"What do you want me dead for?"

"You just need to be dead." Peacock fired again, but this time right at X's cheek.

He cussed very loudly. "You'll pay for that." He started charging his buster.

Peacock was still in front of him. "I am a far better armor maker. Why don't you see for yourself?"

"All right." X scanned his business rival's armor. It was similar to that expensive piece Zero had walked in with that once. X could see a fault line, right about where Cyber Peacock's power core should be. He fired his charged buster there.

It blew a hole straight through him, directing the blast of the explosive power core away from X. Peacock dropped without a retort.

"I knew that wasn't battle armor," he commented, "but that's just pitiful."

'Weapon Copied: Aiming Laser.'

"****!" X swore. "I got that stupid laser? That teleporting power would have been so much more useful."

Of course, the stupid copy system didn't reply.

"X! Hold up!"

He turned to see Zero on his metabike. "How'd you find me?"

"Tracked your bike down."

"Right. You get a hold of her?"

He shook his head. "Her com is set so I can only text her. But she isn't replying. And did you hear the Hunter's message?"

"No. Am I in trouble?"

"Not yet. But they report a full-scale battle against the Repliforce mafia and are requesting civilians stay in protected places. They're putting all Repliforce members under immediate arrest with death warrants if they refuse to cooperate. All of them."

"Shoot. Think we can track her down?"

"I can't get hold of her signal. Hope you did better than I."

X looked down at Peacock. "Well, I killed some more of her brothers. Sorry, but they were trying to kill me first. But I can't get anything out of them as to why." His com beeped. "Hang on, I've got something."

"Who is it?"

"Damn! I've got to rescue my secretary."

"Violet? I'll come along. Maybe she knows where Iris is."

"Possibly. Hurry up, she's being held by two Cultists."

* * *

General, Iris, and Double had already made it up to the station. Colonel rushed to the White Lion Resort. The only teleport they had capable of connecting to space was there. He was thinking of an explanation for his lateness to give to his father… although he feared his sister's retaliation more.

"Wait a moment," the Goddess said softly into his mind.

He stopped at the door and glanced about. Then he whispered, "Goddess, I must hurry. I'm late already."

"Time doesn't really matter." She made him relax. "Everything's going according to schedule."

"But everyone's dying," he said, worried. "Our family has been in power for so long, and then it all seemed to implode with that X."

She made him very relaxed, so much that he went in and found a chair to sit in. "You're taking your place in the scheme of things. Whether you succeed or fail doesn't matter at this point. In fact, I don't expect you to succeed."

"I will do everything I can for you, Goddess," he said obediently.

"I know that. I will be leaving you shortly."

"Please don't!" Fortunately, he'd chosen an empty room to sit in. "With your power, we will win."

"Yes, I know that," she said, slightly annoyed. "But you'd blow my cover too soon. I need more information, more power, before I can take my proper goal in hand. But your sacrifice will be worthwhile."

"I will prove myself to you. I will kill Maverick X."

"That would impress me," she said in amusement. "But I doubt you will. Now, you and your father go on with your games. I'll be making my way to my next target. Here comes my Prophet."

"Prophet?"

"That's what I am," a male voice said. He came into the room.

Colonel looked him over. "You're not that impressive. Rather scrawny."

"I'm much better than you. I am Dynamo. I know you, Colonel of Repliforce."

"Dynamo the art thief? How are you worthy of the Goddess?"

He seemed unruffled by the question. "I am her prophet. She chose me out of her Cult to lead it ever since Vile failed her. Although, I have only been in contact with her on occasion, when Daedelous guides her to me, or me to her." He caught something out of midair. "I'm glad to have you back." There was a pause. "Sure, I will."

Colonel touched his head. "She's gone?"

"From your head," she said, broadcasting her reploid image again. Over the days she spent with Colonel and General, she had continually modified her image. She was still stunningly beautiful, if not more so, and her costume had grown more elaborate and impressive. "Not that there was much in there. That ***** of a sister you have has eroded your wits to almost nothing."

"What, Bluebell?"

"No idiot. Iris." She smiled slightly. "Although if I could get her off the station before you go blowing yourselves to smithereens, I'd love to make her an avatar. She would befit me more than anyone, save Zero himself. Or maybe even more than him."

"If you wish to have her, you should do so," Dynamo said.

"I'll speak with her," Colonel said, although he dreaded trying to convince her off the station. "She would serve you well."

"You'd never convince her," the Goddess said. "As I said, go on to your station and do as you wish. If you succeed I will reward you."

"Of course, dear Goddess. I won't fail you." Then he left.

"****, I'm glad he's gone," she said.


	30. Of Secretaries and Space Stations

Violet had left her com unit on, so X was able to track her from there. Before long, they came upon a white van with no markings. He nodded to Zero, then sped up. He pulled up to the driver's window. "Hey, you!"

They stopped at a light. The driver, some sort of reploid spider, looked down at him. "You whose? Me?"

"Yeah, you jerk. Give me back Violet."

"The kitty is ours," he said. "General said so."

"And I say you can't have her."

A giant mushroom appeared on the roof. "Pretty kitty is ours! You can't have her."

"She belongs to no one but herself," Zero said, as he landed on the truck roof. He sliced through the mushroom, but it was only an image.

The spider shot lightning through the truck roof, missing Zero, but blasting a hole in it. He leapt through. "You are wr… Zero?"

He smiled. "It is so."

The mushroom popped up again. "Yes! We have been ordered to subdue you and bring you back for reformatting."

"Reformatting?"

"Because you have strayed too far from the role of a proper Avatar. You will be made to comply."

"Never!"

X jumped off his bike onto the roof as well. "You Cultist fools are going down."

"No, no," the mushroom said. "Web Spider and I, Split Mushroom, will capture you both for the glory of the true Goddess!"

X blasted Mushroom to discover it was another image. Zero started battling Web Spider, despite having electrified webbing thrown at him. The Mushroom image popped up again. This time, X started charging. To distract the image, he backhanded it. "Don't make me break out the fungicide."

"No chance for you," Mushroom said through his image. "Be gone!" He threw a dust cloud of spores at X. Which did… nothing?

X shook his head. "Yeah right." His buster was at full charge now. He dashed back and dropped into the cab, where the real Split Mushroom was sitting on the floorboard. "Gotcha."

"Eep!" he shrieked as X blasted him. He was dead in one shot.

'Copy system analyzing…' he heard in his mind.

"****," X swore. "I'm getting that stupid spore attack."

'Weapon Copied: Soul Body.'

"Yes!" he said. "Something actually useful. I think."

He turned off the van so he could have the keys and jumped back out of the hole. Web Spider and Zero were still fighting. Spider thought he had a brilliant tactic; throw a web behind Zero and make him back up into it. It worked. Just one problem.

Zero grabbed his ponytail, then yelled out, "****! You got my hair sticky!"

What happened next happened so quickly, X had a hard time following. Zero pulled off some furious sword technique he generally only used in practice. By the time he was done, all eight of Web Spider's legs were on the road. Spider himself had been sliced into five pieces.

X laughed. "Wow. Didn't know you had it in you to cuss like that."

He pulled his hair around so he could visually check the damage. "****. There's no way this gunk is getting out easily. It's like bubble gum."

X jumped off the truck and unlocked the back door. "Zero? I could use your help down here."

He jumped down and looked in. "That's… a lot of webbing."

"Violet?"

"X? Good!"

He smiled. "Good, you're operating. Hang on, we're trying to get you out."

"Okay."

Zero reactivated his saber and started cutting the mess apart. X pulled the loose chunks out. "Sheesh, it is like bubble gum."

"It's going to take hours to get out of my hair," Zero complained.

"You can try peanut butter," Violet suggested. "That gets out gum."

"Put peanut butter in my hair?" he sounded horrified.

"It's easier to clean out than gum, or this webbing. Otherwise, you'd have to cut it out."

"No way that's going to happen," X said.

"You got that right."

"It'll probably take five jars of peanut butter to cover your hair though," X teased.

"Eeeww," Zero shuddered.

"Did they do anything to you, Violet?" X said, as they were still cutting out webbing. He wanted her talking, so Zero didn't accidentally hit her.

"Web Spider stunned me for a bit," she said. "And then wrapped me in this webbing. And I don't think they were going to treat me well when they got to wherever. But they hadn't hurt me yet…"

"That's good."

"My weapon didn't work too well against the spider."

"He's electrical himself," Zero said.

"We might have to see about getting you a better defense system. We're lucky you only got caught by some stoned Cultists."

"I'm a bit surprised you got here so fast, though."

"I came as soon as I got your message," X said.

"You did?"

"Sure," Zero said. "Dropped what he was doing and dragged me along too."

"There she is. You look okay, just sticky."

Violet nodded from where she was bundled up. She could see them too. "That's good of you."

"Hang on." X walked through the opening in the webbing, picked her up, and brought her out. "Of course I don't want to lose you. My shop would fall apart if you were gone."

That made her laugh, so he smiled at her. He and Zero helped her pull the webbing off, Zero very carefully slitting the thicker strands with his saber. A few minutes later, Violet picked webbing out of her fingers. "Thanks boss."

"No problem kitten," X said. "You'd best get to a safe location and clean up. When this all blows over, we'll see about extricating you from your family's legal issues."

"Have you seen or heard from Iris lately?" Zero asked.

"There's going to be major trouble. Poppa said he was going to the station. She's probably up there with him."

"The station?"

She nodded. "They call it Final Weapon, or some other pompous name. Poppa said they're backed into a corner, and the station has a massive beam cannon big enough to take out Detroit. Or any other place they wish. They'll fight the Hunters from there."

"Think we should find a way up and talk with her?" Zero asked X.

"That would probably be the best way to go about this. Thanks Violet. I'll let the Hunters know as well. Get to one of the shelters nearby. Be safe okay?"

"But X, wait!"

They drove off before she could warn them why they wanted him dead.

This would not end well.

* * *

"The General's sons are turning up," Blues said. "Turning up dead."

"And his daughters," Abadon, leader of #8 said. "We arrested Clover for betraying the Hunters, but she committed suicide."

"And now Dr. Cain too," Alia said. "He didn't get your messages."

Sigma nodded seriously. "Do we have any leads into living conspirators? Anything?"

"There's Bluebell," Abadon said. "But she's a certified nutcase. We never found Iris' body, Colonel has not been seen for days, and no one knows about General himself."

"Magma Dragoon is still AWOL," Alia reported. "But we can't find him."

Abadon and another squad leader started discussing where he might be when both Blues and Rock got text messages from X. Rock came up to his brother's chair and showed it. "Same thing?" he whispered.

Blues nodded. Both still agreed to not speak against their younger brother. They kept close tabs on him and hoped to fully reform him at some point, sometime.

"Excuse us," Blues said to the others' discussion, "but my and my brother have gotten an interesting tip."

"What about and who?" Sigma said.

"We've promised our source our silence," Rock said.

"But the tip goes that General and his remaining children have gone to their private space station, which is rumored to have a weapon of mass destruction on board. They may be planning on using it against us."

"Do we know anything about this station?"

"It exists," Alia said. "Other then that, not much. We can have investigators check out the location and statistics on it, but it will take a few hours."

Sigma nodded. "Right then. And keep an eye out for any weapon charge on any station in orbit. The rest of us need to locate Magma Dragoon for questioning."

* * *

"How are we getting to a space station?" Zero asked over his com as they drove down the streets, ignoring all stoplights.

"Easy. I've been there before."

"You have?"

"Sure. I was trying to get my customs sold in Cyber Peacock's stores, so we dealt for a while. He took me up there. Didn't see much of it, but I know how to get there."

"I see."

"The teleport is in her casino."

They got to White Lion and went in. A few threats got them into the private areas where the teleport station was. X picked the preprogrammed target and got them into space. The entryway was done entirely in stainless steel, the only exception being some mosaics in colored glass. Even the IC station looked high class.

"Wow," Zero said. "I knew they were rich, but this is nothing like what I've seen so far…"

X grinned. "Wait till you see the next room. It's a doozy."

And it was. It was like Repliforce had taken an ancient Roman temple and put it into their station. There were twenty-foot marble columns, life-sized marble statues that were probably ancient, and more glass mosaics on the floor. It seemed to be lit by mirrors and torches, but there were hidden lights that increased visibility and there was hardly any smoke in the room. There were few furnishings, but what was there was obviously expensive. For example, the elaborately carved mahogany chair with hand sewn upholstery. It was the sort of thing Rock would love.

Colonel was there, muttering to one of the columns.

"Where's Iris?" Zero demanded.

"What are you two lowlifes doing here?" Colonel demanded back. "There's no way you could have known about this station."

"Except that Cyber's brought me here before," X said. "We told the Hunters as well, for kicks and grins."

"You've murdered my siblings; you've absolutely ruined everything. And you, you crass narcissistic vagrant! You have no right to speak of Iris as you do. You are far below her and you'd best leave her alone if you know what's good for you."

"So which one of us does he hate more?" X asked Zero.

"I'm not sure."

"Doesn't matter, I will eliminate you both." He pointed his hand at them, and then a massive burst of electricity filled the room. It was impossible to avoid as the attack happened so fast. Once the room cleared, Colonel was gone.

"Careful of teleports," X said.

Zero noticed before X and darted over to where Colonel appeared next. They caught each other's blade. Colonel teleported again. Zero stumbled slightly, then searched for his next appearance point. X decided on charging and watching Zero. He darted over to the spot, so X dashed and opened fire as soon as he saw Colonel. If either of them hit, they didn't get the chance to see.

"****, I never thought I'd see a worse chicken than Cyber Peacock," X taunted. "And you prove me wrong in under an hour."

"Move it X!" Zero yelled.

But it wasn't in time. Colonel teleported behind X. With his saber charged electrically, he thrust right through X, forcing a power surge into X's body. X was about to scream, but somehow had the presence of mind to activate Shatter Wave right before he did. Colonel dropped his saber and stumbled back in response. He swore loudly, but X was still screaming.

Zero was not affected this time, having remembered his earplugs. He dashed over and thrust his saber into Colonel. However, he had aimed for the critical part, his central core. That killed him completely.

X collapsed. Zero shook his shoulders. "X! Are you all right?"

"Y-Y-Y…gi-gi…gi…"

"X?"

He tried to get up, but his systems were overloaded as it was. But he'd managed to turn around. X grabbed hold of Colonel's boot. Once he made sure he was touching metal, he forced the extra energy out of his body into Colonel's. The head wound started erupting sparks like a firecracker and both of them started smoking. After a minute, he let go, even though his own body was still shaking.

"You better now?"

"Depends on how you see it," X said. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm his internal systems. "I'm alive, but I wasn't made to handle that much electricity at once."

"So?"

"It hurts like hell."

"You wait here," Zero said. "I'll go find Iris and we'll get out of here."

"Hang on. I can patch it in a few minutes. It's probably not a good idea to go wandering about this station alone."

"You've got a point." Zero looked over at Colonel. "I wish I didn't have to do that though. She was close to him."

X pulled out a patch kit. "****, he would have killed us without thinking twice."

"You don't like it either, though."

"Quit reading my mind."

Zero smiled. "So I am right."

"I've tried not to kill too many people," he admitted. "Hell, I had nightmares after I killed Dr. Doppler. Of course, after the **** he put me through… he deserved it. But sometimes I wish I didn't have to be the killer."

"Because you know it's wrong?"

"No, because it gets me more people who want me dead."

"Right."

"And I got enough enemies as it is. I'd like to stay alive, you know."

"That's true." Zero tapped his fingers on his knee. "You ever wish to be the hero like your brothers?"

"Why the **** are you asking all this now?"

He shrugged. "I've wondered about it. And I'm trying to keep your mind off the pain from that internal lightning strike."

"I guess you can get away with that."

"So do you?"

"I could never be the hero they are."

"Why not?"

"I can't. Not with what's happened already."

"And what's that?"

X was quiet for a moment, but Zero couldn't tell whether it was because he was thinking about it, or concentrating on the patch job on his back. Then he spoke quietly. "Look, don't let this out, but I did something once…"

"Something?"

"I'm pretty sure it was unforgivable… or at least there was no time…"

"Forte says nothing's completely unforgivable."

"Never mind," X said. "I don't want to talk about it now. Let's get going."

"But later…"

"If I feel like it. Come on."

That tone of voice said to drop it absolutely. Zero followed X through the next set of doors. There was a long hallway with many doors. "Now where?"

"If we could find some command center, or security station…" Before either could notice, a large arm snatched X into the air roughly. "Ow, hey, that's my bandage!"

"Let him go." Zero stepped forward, but he was watching X above him. A trapdoor below him opened.

"Zero!"

The trapdoor shut. The arm snapped back quickly, drawing X into a small passage. He tried to shoot it. It flung him right at a ceiling, putting several dents into his armor. Its trapdoor snapped shut, so when X fell, it was onto a flat hard surface.

Grumbling, he got up and looked around. He was in the corner of some room. There were no doors. Instead, there were spikes. Spikes everywhere. On the floor, on the wall, on the ceiling, on floating platforms, on flying enemies, on stationary enemies, on every single surface but the small corner he'd been thrown at, there were spikes.

"Who the **** made this place?"

* * *

General had announced the battle against the Hunter fiends and invited any trusted family member onto Final Weapon for the last stand off. They weren't needed now, but they would be safe here and could continue serving the family when Repliforce had won. Double was playing Tetris on his eyeband, so he didn't notice Iris walk up until she punched him in the head. "Snap out of your game, junkie!"

He lifted the eyeband. "I'm not a junkie!"

"A game junkie," she explained. "Look, Colonel's been murdered while you've been playing. You're going to help me stop them."

Double paled. "Them? But… anyone who can defeat Colonel must be a master warrior…"

"It's that damn Maverick X and my boyfriend. Look, I've got them split up. Colonel did follow my word and did most of the damage to X. I sent him on to the Spiked Hell Hall."

"Why ever did we install that in the first place?" Double asked.

"It's not for you to know. But you are to get to the end of that hall and kill X when he shows. He should be weakened enough for you to do that, if the spikes don't kill him first. I've sent Zero on way to my area. I'll take care of him there. Then you can go back to your stupid junkie games."

"All right, all right, I'll go." Double said. "**** *****," he said with a door between them.

* * *

The Spiked Hell Hall was ninety-five percent spikes. X calculated that. It also had laser traps, floating cannons, aerial enemies, and held enough threats of death to kill the entire world twice over.

But it didn't bother him much. His armor was equipped with spike proof boots and spike climbing gloves. And anything flying was cannon fodder to his hacked arm buster. Which was good. Colonel had beaten him up badly with that nasty lightning move. And then Dr. Light's idiotic weapon copy system did not copy the lightning attack. X felt cheated. That would be one to keep. And he'd lost track of Glitchy, who was in much better shape than he was. He may have been well equipped for the area, but he still cussed his situation out under his breath.

Finally, he made it out of the Hell Hall and into a new area. He was surprised to run into Double. The idiot, he thought. "Hey man, what are you doing here?"

Double shifted his form to include heavy-duty battle armor, and a large gun. "I am here to kill you."

"What the **** for?"

"Repliforce says you must die. You know why."

"Actually, I don't. See, there's fifty thousand reasons various people want me dead, so I have no ******* idea which one Repliforce is relying on."

"I am not here to chatter." He fired his buster, a far more powerful shot than X's, even hacked as it was. "I am here to kill you."

"***** retard," X growled.

Double kept firing at X, who kept dodging. And when Double's buster finally connected, X was vaporized. Double paused. It didn't seem right, even though X had been injured in first place. There was nothing left behind.

He heard a whine of a charged weapon reaching full power just behind him. "Dodge this," X said, as he blasted Double right in the head, instantly frying his central core. Split Mushroom may have been crazy, but his Soul Body projection weapon was excellent tactically.

X checked him over to make sure he wasn't going to revive for some reason. Nope. His central core was torched. "You know, if you'd just cooperate and tell me what I want to know, I wouldn't have to kill all of you idiots."

He turned to head on in his search for Zero, but fell through the floor instead.

"Damn invisible holes!" he shouted. He blasted a few enemies that were trying to impale him while falling. But this hole was deep and dark. Eventually, he caught sight of the bottom. There were spikes down there too.

He cursed his ill luck and righted himself. He hadn't tested his spike boots for falling onto spiked covered surfaces. He closed his eyes and hoped to hell they worked.

He landed. The spikes were crushed beneath his thickly soled boots. But he heard and felt his knees and ankles snap under the pressure. "Dammit," he cursed again.

He hobbled over to the nearest platform. Sitting on it, he reviewed the damage. He could walk, but it was painful. And the internal damage of Colonel's saber and lightning attack still throbbed his upper body. And now he was lost in some crazy space station whose architect had felt it necessary to install a Spiked Hell Hall.

He cussed out Repliforce as he walked down the halls, searching for Zero. And he felt angry enough to start stealing valuables as he spotted them. All this pain should be worth something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah yes, ye olde hall of spikes. And invisible holes. I always wished that the Mega Man series had a secret armor that functioned like the Spike Breaker Armor in Castlevania SotN. That armor is just so satisfying.  
> I just love messing with Zero and his hair.


	31. Giant Space Stations Never Last

"X, over here," he finally heard Zero call.

"Dammit, am I glad to hear from you," X replied. He hopped along the wall; his ankle had fully splintered, so his left leg would take no weight. Somewhere, he'd found a pack to carry his spoils in. "I'm not having a good day."

"I know," Zero said quietly.

X looked over and noticed his ponytail completely gone. Zero had shorn his hair off so short that the back of his head was slightly burned. He also had a wide variety of small wounds and one large scorch mark down his left side. "She was mad at you?"

He nodded. "The General's ahead," he said as calmly as he could manage. "He's threatening to wipe Minnesota off the map with his beam cannon."

"*** **** ******* no!" X replied, much less calm. That's where his brothers were at the moment. "No way. Let's go shut him and this hell station down."

"Right. I was going in myself, but then I heard you swearing." He looked concerned. "Are you going to be able to fight in that condition?"

"I'm in so much pain a little more isn't going to affect me. Come on."

"If you say so." He put his helmet on and they went into the General's chambers.

General was standing by a window, watching the Earth below. X yelled out, "Turn that ******* cannon off!"

He ignored them.

"Great," Zero said. "He's on the Goddess chip."

"How do you know?"

"I am the Goddess, remember? But how're they still making those without me?"

The General said something.

"He says they've got a master copy. Repliforce does, I mean, and the Cult."

"You speak Italian?"

X nodded.

He kept speaking.

"And that we killed his children, so we are going to be killed."

Just as he finished speaking, both of them leapt out of the way of an indoor beam cannon installed on the room's wall. X managed to jump-climb the wall with his right foot and grab hold of a heavy chain. Zero double jumped straight up to the twenty-foot ceiling and clung to a thin pipe.

When the beam cannon stopped, General activated his jetpack and hovered into the air. His maneuverability was low, but he was now wielding a large battleaxe. He swung it around himself with surprising speed. That meant that if either of them tried to get near him, they'd be cleaved in two.

X didn't need to get close, so he hung on the chains and charged his buster continually. Zero did need to get close to attack, but he found an inventive way to manage it. He would drop down from above at just the right moment, slashing General as he fell by, and then jump back up to the pipe on the ceiling.

But the General was wearing actual battle armor, probably not designed by his fashion sensitive son. His endurance was amazing, and it would only take a slight miscalculation on Zero's part to get sliced apart.

Before that happened, General changed his attack. He flung his battleaxe away, at X, who jumped onto another chain and climbed out of range. But then the axe stopped short of the wall and redirected itself at X again. He swore loudly as he got off the chains and dashed away. Large battleaxes weren't supposed to do that! He got to the wall and hoped he could dodge in time to get the axe stuck in the wall.

The damn axe collided into him. X heard Zero shout. Then the battleaxe fell out of the air. It was probably because Zero was attacking General head on now. The axe handle landed on X's leg. He pushed it off him, finding it much heavier than it looked. It made him very glad the thing hadn't hit him edge on.

'Excessive body damage taken,' his internal system said. 'You are in danger of total systems failure.'

X swore softly. "I ******* know that," he muttered. He tried to get up, but his legs gave out. He grumbled and cursed General for defeating him like this.

He sat against the wall, making an internal list of repairs he needed, and what he might be able to fudge so he could get back to fighting. But something along the wall caught his eye. The beam cannon. It was directed right at the door they came through. He glanced over and realized that General had positioned himself at a safe location before they even arrived. He'd known they were coming.

X glanced over at the combatants. They were well matched, probably taking equal amounts of damage. They weren't paying attention to him.

Good.

He crawled over to the cannon and studied it. Thankfully, it was familiar. He noticed a screwdriver on the floor and grinned. That was all he needed. He picked it up and began to work. In three minutes, he had the cannon ready to fire again and was aiming it manually.

He looked over and made sure Zero and General were on the floor. "Zero, get on that pipe!" Both were startled to hear from him again. Zero recovered quickly and double jumped. Once he was out of the way, X fired. It hit General dead on. When the beam died off, all that was left were his boots and a puddle of molten metal.

Zero dropped next to X. "You're alive?"

"Of course I am. Help me up."

Zero used his left arm to do so; his right arm was hanging limp on his side. "I thought for sure that axe got you."

"It broadsided me." He winced as his legs began complaining about the weight.

"The main cannon is still getting ready."

"The weapons system control should be around here," X said. "What happened to your arm?"

"His second axe nearly bisected me. It doesn't hurt much."

X's expert eye said it must hurt like hell. The arm was hanging on only by three inches of torn metal. "We shouldn't leave it like that; here, let me borrow your saber." Zero handed it over. "This is gonna hurt for a sec, but then you shouldn't feel a thing."

He took the amputation stoically. "You sure it has to come off?"

"It'll be easier to reattach this way and the nerves will cut themselves off. At least your veins sealed automatically. Come on, let's go." They went through the other door and down a hall. There was a long low shelf that had many items strewn about. "Dammit," he said as he tripped on his weak ankles.

Zero stopped him from falling back down. "Maybe you should wait here."

"Can you operate a space station weapons system with one hand?"

"Probably not even with two… can you?"

"Never done it before, but I've got a better chance of figuring it out than you do."

"That's true. Oh, look, maybe this will help." He pulled a bottle of the shelf. "Some sort of painkiller."

Zero handed it to X, who glanced over the label. "Sure enough." He opened it and took a deep drink.

"Shouldn't you measure it first?"

"**** that," X said. "I'll be fine. Here, you should probably take a shot of it too."

Zero shrugged and took a small sip as they entered the next room. Sure enough, there was a computer array targeting the Hunter base and the twin cities. X sat in the chair and studied the controls.

"You've got twenty minutes," Zero said.

"I can do this." He pulled a keyboard over and started adjusting the cannon's instructions.

"You won't have time," a strange voice said.

Zero looked over while X kept working. There was a person standing in another doorway. A young man with messy brown hair and a highly engineered right arm. But he had a human's heat signature, save for the arm. "Who or what are you?"

"I am a cyborg," he explained, "and I have been going by Danny, I mean, Daedelous for some time. But there's no need for that game now. I am Dr. Albert Wily."

"Oh, you. I didn't recognize you, since you're not stoned out of your mind."

X chuckled.

"I almost didn't recognize you either," Wily admitted, "not without your hair."

"That's your fault," Zero said, now miffed.

"Oh yeah, part of your training routine," he muttered. "****, I can't keep these things straight."

"Maybe you should go back on the pixie dust," X teased. "Then you might."

"Shut up, you little bastard."

"And **** proud of it."

"What are you doing still alive?" Zero asked, genuinely curious. "And over a hundred years younger than you should be."

X started giggling.

"There was an accident with a space-time experiment, you remember? But never mind that. I'm here to remind you of your mission."

He nodded. "To keep rock and roll music alive? Sure, I've done that."

Wily clenched his mechanical fist. "No! You're supposed to have killed Dr. Light and his creations! Including him."

"Wily's pissed off," X sang. "And he's a big turd."

"Oh. I forgot about that."

There was an awkward silence.

Wily raised an eyebrow at his creation. "Is that all you're going to say?"

Looking unconcerned, Zero shrugged. "Well, um, yeah."

The screens flashed all around the room. 'Cannon system deactivating,' the computer reported.

"Score!" X called.

"Dammit! Get rid of him!"

Zero activated his saber, but pointed it at Wily. "No."

"Why not?"

X turned and threw Wily a cute look. "Well, some say I'm a bad influence on people. Especially him."

"You left me in a state of impending doom," Zero said. "X has more to do with my operating now than you do. So I owe nothing to you."

"And you're a freak pixie," X said in a weird happy tone. "Death isn't gonna like you. Death has revenge worse than the IRS. Like putting your soul into an eternal laundry dryer with spike balls, bat demons, and overpowering flower scented dryer sheets."

Zero and Wily just stared at him.

X kept giggling. "What'd I do? I'm just kibbles and bits!"

"What the hell is wrong with him?" Wily asked in confusion.

"I have no idea," Zero said.

X clapped his hands. "With turpentine and white socks." Then he fell out of the operator's chair.

The computer blared a warning. 'The Maverick Hunters have breached the station,' it warned. 'Increase security level to full?'

"Yes!" Wily said.

"No!" Zero said at the same time. "Stand down security."

'Unregistered operator, incompatible orders,' the computer replied. 'This station will self-destruct in fifteen minutes.'

Wily cussed under his breath. "I'll talk to you later," he warned. Then he teleported off.

Zero went over to X. "Hey, X! What is it now?"

"Hello, buzzard. How are your donuts today?"

He shook his head. "I told you you should have measured it," he muttered. He picked up X's bag after sticking his arm in it, then guided his delusional friend out of the area.

'Maverick Hunters have left the premises,' the computer reported on station wide intercoms. 'This station will self-destruct in three minutes.'

"Make up your stupid electronic mind," Zero said. He finally found a signal from X's shop teleporter and connected their emergency teleports. The Maverick Hunter teleport system noticed them and hijacked their signal, sending them to the main base instead of Detroit. Zero looked at the five Hunters facing him with weapons drawn. "Yes?"

"Give yourselves up," the lead Hunter instructed.

He Looked at X. "You'll fix him?"

"It's okay," X said dreamily. "I don't feel a thing."

The Repliforce station self-destructed five minutes later.


	32. Recovering From a Mad Scheme

What went wrong? Zero wasn't quite sure. It hadn't take long, he knew that much. One minute, he was fighting his way through security robots, trying to find Iris and X so they could all get out of the hellish station. The next minute he got attacked from behind. His mind might have strayed from his original purpose, but his body was trained and perfected to react just as it did.

Only… that reaction… when his eyes finally connected to his 'attacker', Iris was dead. Cut clean through the center.

Dammit.

(Can you move your fingers for me?)

Who was that? It wasn't familiar. Zero opened his eyes and looked into a watery darkness. Barely a foot from his face, he saw wires, slender machines, and a black glossy surface. A full repair chamber, he thought.

(You were Zero, right? Can you move your fingers on your right hand?)

No wonder the voice was unfamiliar; it wasn't even a voice. It was a text message going straight to his mind. (Is my arm back on?) he thought.

(No. But I need you to try moving your right arm so I can see how to reattach it.)

That wouldn't be X. (Who are you?)

(My name is Lifesaver, and I'm the mechanic healer for the Maverick Hunters. You're at our base currently.)

(You're not going to kill us?)

(At the moment, no. There's a large debate going on a few doors down about what to do with you. But the oath of a healer requires that I heal all who come under my watch. And I have no injured Hunters to deal with, partly in thanks to you and your friend. So would you try moving your right hand?)

Zero closed his eyes and tried flexing his fingers. (I feel them there.)

(You feel it as a ghost limb. The arm was fully removed, but your nerves are still intact. That's good, I can figure this out now.)

(It wasn't fully taken off in the original injury) Zero thought to Lifesaver. (X said it would be better to amputate then leave it hanging by three inches of metal.)

(He was right. I would have recommended the same thing.)

(How is X doing? And what was wrong with him? He was acting very strange.)

(I would think so. The medication you both took was a cocktail of several depressants and Vextril. It was a heavy dosage in the first place, meant for a reploid with larger mass than either of you. You were okay, but he overdosed by about five times and his injuries were more severe than yours. He's lucky he didn't shut down immediately.)

(Is he going to recover?)

(I'm watching his vital signs very carefully. He's stabilized himself and I don't think there's permanent core damage. But I can't say for certain.)

(I see.)

(You'll be fine yourself. Once I've got your arm back on, I'll leave you in for another hour. Then another check and you'd be ready to go if they let you.)

(They're really debating on this? Because your Hunters have come after X aggressively in the past.)

(I'm aware of that. I listened in on the debate a few minutes ago. A small group with Sigma is still determined to delete X. Another small group led by his brother Signas has decided that since you both stopped Repliforce before major damage happened, you should be let go for the time being. It's basically down to what the neutral parties decide on X's fate. I'm fairly certain you'll get out with little hassle.)

(Sure, whatever you want.) Zero was feeling too dismal to argue.

(Something else happen up there?)

(I DON'T want to talk about it.) He thought this aggressively.

(If you feel that way. Okay, go back to sleep now. You should feel better when you come out.)

I doubt I will, Zero thought. I wish it hadn't ended that way.

* * *

X was slumped on a tan colored couch. Anything beyond that couch was groggy. He pulled up his hands and looked at them. The armor looked pristine. The bandage and the hole in his gut were both gone. When did that happen? This didn't seem like his shop, and he was certain he'd been in terrible shape. He could still access his internal list of repairs. They were all done.

A red hand took his. Glancing up, it was Zero, with his right arm still attached. But didn't I amputate that? "You back in the land of the living?" Zero asked.

"What the hell's going on?" he asked, but all that came out was a garbled series of, "hyu wha ga hmm?"

Then a red and white reploid walked in front of them. It was his brother. "It took a long series of arguments," he said, "but you're both free to go now. Here, I'll help you to the teleport room."

"Make sure he gets to bed," a voice said behind him. "And that he rests for at least the next week. Your shop's healers should be able to ease him out of the Vextril cocktail poisoning."

"Okay. Thanks, Lifesaver," Zero said. He and Blues pulled X off the couch and supported him down the hall. "And thanks to you, Blues."

"You can just call me Proto," he said quietly. "All my friends do. And I wasn't about to let them kill him without a fight. That wouldn't suit X at all."

"No, it wouldn't. I'm glad he made it through at least."

"You have friends in Repliforce?"

He sighed. "More than that. Just don't ask any more about it."

"As you wish. I'm still a bit shocked I got as many to agree on letting him go. Especially Signas. His brother Sigma's got a vendetta against X for some reason, and it was Signas more than me that got X out. They've never spoken, but I think he got wind that X upkeeps his healer's oath most of the time."

"Strange. Hang on, I'd better give them the shop teleport numbers."

"Sure."

X tried to steady himself against a railing. Vextril cocktail poisoning… no wonder he felt so out of touch. That stuff could stay in a reploid's system for days. And it would hamper his communication ability so that anything he said made him sound like an idiot. As his eyes flittered about, he caught sight of Blues looking at him with deep concern. X looked at him to make sure he wasn't imagining things. Why should he still care after X had cut him off for so long?

Proto noticed and touched his arm. "Hey little brother, take care of yourself. And please consider what's happened. Compared to your friend there, it seems you got off lightly. There must have been some better way to handle this mess."

Some better way to handle this mess? X highly doubted it. Repliforce had wanted to kill him, for reasons that were still unclear. Maybe it would have been better if he knew those reasons. Then he could have shown those idiots where they were wrong. And how did he get off lightly? He got an internal warning that he was close to shutting down. Zero hadn't been injured that seriously.

Then Zero came back over and X did notice his spirit was quite heavier than usual. Oh yeah, Iris. X looked away toward the ground. Maybe it was his fault that it had happened that way… then he noticed the bag Zero was carrying, the one X brought from the station. There was something he could do about that, if he could somehow speak clearly to Panther or Landon.

His brother squeezed his hand. "Our father is still watching you."

X looked back at him, perhaps a little quicker than he intended to show.

"Honestly."

* * *

X came down to the basement labs with a box. Zero was sulking in lab A, playing his guitar and singing softly. "Violet decided to go on 'vacation'," X said as he walked in. "She'll show back up when the Hunters back off from her family."

"She's the sole heir, isn't she?"

"Not exactly. Crazy Bluebell is still around, in a mental ward. But she's incapable of handling that sort of fortune."

He went back to singing to himself.

X opened his box. "Snatched some stuff from the station," he explained. "Wasn't about to let it go to waste."

There was no response.

"Some jewels, a couple of expensive watches… ah, forgot I picked that up. An energy blade of some sort. It looks so weird." He held it away from anything breakable and activated it. It spawned an orange battleaxe instead of a bladed weapon. "Nifty." He shut it off. "A few pens; I'm always losing those. One of those damn spikes… Iris' central core… ah, more pens."

Zero hit the wrong note in his melody. "What was that?"

He held it out. "Iris' central core. It's whole and unharmed. I ran into her shell while I was looking for you and figured she could be revived. But, as you saw, I was in no condition to take her whole shell around with me. So I just removed the vital part. Had to pull out her power core too to keep it static. And I'm damn lucky it didn't take damage during our fight with General."

"So you can rebuild her from that alone?"

"I already have Panther and Landon on it. The core is still good, and once I get in on the project, I say it'll be another month."

Zero hugged X. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

He smiled. "Well, I expected you to be happy with that, but not this happy."

"If I just talk with her, I'm sure I can explain everything."

"I'm always here to back you up."

"Thank you!"

"You can let me go now."

He stepped back and turned red. "Ah, yeah, sorry. But thank you!"


	33. X's Secret Project

Iris had been pretty sure that she was dead, but was proven wrong. When she was first aware of that fact, she became determined to make Zero pay. But when she spoke with him after he killed her, it was impossible to get revenge. Zero was so happy, repentant, and naïvely unaware that she tried to have X killed that it was hard to scorn him. She'd been restrained on a worktable as X was testing things out, and Zero spoke so fast and breathlessly trying to explain everything that she couldn't get an argument in edgewise. By the time she got to say something of length, she had to forgive him.

It had been three months now since reawakening and she was just now getting back into normal operations without thinking every ten minutes that she should be dead. Zero had become so eager to please her that he actually outdid Colonel in that regard. And Colonel had been willing to do just about anything to see her smile. She was very pleased with that development, but held back seeing how much she could get away with. You had to train boys and this one was still developing.

Plus, there was the deal with his hair. When she'd been revived, she almost didn't recognize him with shoulder length hair. Apparently it was some psychological behavior incited by his warrior training, a system of self-punishment. It was a bad look on him. But his hair grew at an astonishing rate when shorter than usual. It was now down to his waist, making him look sort of normal again.

"Hey, Miss Iris," one of the human workers called out.

"What?" She was working on training these ones too. Repliforce may be no more, but she would continue on her work. She just needed men willing to do anything for her smile.

"Have you seen X or Zero today?"

She considered it. Funny, she hadn't. "No. What of it?"

"They're downstairs again," Arcanine said. "Haven't you noticed X lately?"

The human rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know."

"I've hardly seen him," she said. And thanked the heavens for.

"He's down working on his secret project. He's been at it furiously the past three months and snaps at anyone who interrupts his progress."

"Three months?" the human said jokingly. "He's been at that project for years. And three months is nothing; I've been around when he's been working for six months straight without seeing the sun."

"Then what the hell is he working on?"

Iris glared at Arcanine. He winced and bowed his head.

"No one knows," the human said without noticing. "Just some secret project. Although I think Zero knows now. They are best friends, after all, and he's been going down on occasion without getting cussed back up. And yesterday he was out on some errand for it."

Iris felt a twinge of jealousy come back. Sure, he'd come back with flowers, but he also had that box for X that he wouldn't say what was inside. For anyone else, Iris would have scolded him. But to keep his favor, she just begged to no result. She hated begging, especially for nothing.

The door to the basement banged open. X came out, practically skipping. Zero was close behind. "I'll find them," Zero said.

"Great," X said merrily. He came up to them and handed them all envelopes. "Here, I'm having a party in a week!"

"All right," the human said. "That'll be excellent."

"What's it for, if you're so happy?" Arcanine asked.

"Everything is working now. My secret project is going to be finished by then. And that deserves a big celebration."

"Of course," the human said.

"So what is it?" Iris said slyly.

He winked at her. "Nu-huh, not gonna say. You'll find out at the party."

"Oh, fine," she said sternly.

X laughed at her. "Silly girl. Oh, and there's a few rules for the party in the invitations. You are to conduct yourselves well, especially with no drinking and no swearing. At all."

Arcanine looked at him suspiciously. "No drinking or swearing?"

"None at all."

* * *

Blues teleported a short distance from the Blasted Machine Shop. In seconds, he heard, "Good afternoon, Proto!"

He glanced back to see his brothers walking down the sidewalk. He waved to them. "Good afternoon, Rock, Forte."

"You came to see X's secret project too?" Forte asked.

He grinned. "Actually, I came to see how long X could go without swearing or cussing. Yes, of course."

The three of them laughed. "Yes, that was very strange," Rock said. "But a good sign, you agree? Especially if he does mean it."

"Perhaps he has begun to change his life around as well," Forte said. "Generally such a thing starts from within, although I suppose living under self-imposed rules like that could be a catalyst of sorts."

"Do you have any idea what he's doing?" Blues asked.

Both of them showed negative signs. "Just something for a very long time," Rock said. "I think he started shortly after he upgraded me. At the time, he said he had an idea but wasn't sure how it would work out. He'd spend hours calculating figures and drawing, never showing anyone."

"Hours?" Forte asked. "I've visited him on occasion and his workers say sometimes he isn't seen for months because he's down in the basement working on it."

"And we know he can build armor in a snap," Blues added. "Anything that takes him years must be extremely complex."

X met them at a garage entrance. "Hello you three! Glad to see you came."

Blues withdrew his buster. "Who are you and what have you done with our brother?"

The two others laughed.

X smiled. "Oh, so you're concerned about me now, huh? Well, don't worry, it will become clear in time. Come on in. I'm hoping Violet shows up. Haven't heard a word from her since the fall of her family."

He put away his weapon. "Is she in the clear?"

He nodded. "Certainly. She's been my secretary for some time now and our office files are getting messy again. I trust her, and Iris."

The other two were already inside, so Blues asked, "So you're trusting me now, is that it? Since you invited me too."

"I guess," X said. "I mean, you've been in for a number of years now and haven't done a thing against me. But I'm still watching you."

He smiled. "Right. Any improvement is a good thing."

"If you think so."

* * *

A while into the party, Iris was getting annoyed. There were many people here, friends and family of Maverick X and his workers. Violet had not shown up yet. Zero was wandering around the garage, greeting people he hadn't seen in a while and introducing her to many of them. She knew it was X's party, but she wished someone else there was recognizable and well mannered. Everyone stuck with the rules, but it was obvious many of them were trying hard to do so.

Zero came back over with some punch for both of them. "Your mind seems to be drifting. Anything going badly?"

She shook her head as she accepted the drink. "No, just thinking. I don't really know many people here."

"Sorry about that. And it is a bit uneasy in here." He took a sip. "A good many of them are used to very wild parties."

"A good many of them are betting on how long it will take X to start cussing again," she pointed out.

He nodded. Then he smiled and hugged her. "I'm so happy to have you back."

"You've said that a million times now."

"But it's the truth," he protested. "I was miserable without you. I didn't realize how much you meant to me. I mean to make everything up to you."

"You can be sweet sometimes."

"Sometimes? Only that?"

She laughed at him. "I'm teasing you, sheesh. Don't take everything so seriously."

"Okay, good. Look, I know I've been busy helping X out lately, but you know, he's had a lot to do and he didn't want to be disturbed."

"I noticed."

"It was important. But with that finished, I can do what I've been meaning to."

"And that is?"

"I'm going to take you on vacation. A trip to wherever. I haven't really been anywhere outside of Michigan in years, so you'll have to help me figure out where. But we'll go and do things, and there'll be no one to bother us or give us reason to be apart. It'll be great." He seemed excited about the prospect.

And that would be great. "Yeah, I'd like that. We could go around Europe."

"Sure. Whatever you want to do. Just so long as you're happy, that's all that matters to me right now."

That was worth giving him a pretty smile. "Okay. It'll be fun, I promise."

"It will be. Hi there," he said to a reploid kid who wandered up. He was a cute little kid, with a physical age of around six, dark blue armor and brown hair partly down his back. Iris didn't recognize him.

The kid took Zero's hand and seemed unsteady on his own feet. "Hi," he said.

"Who's this one?" she asked.

"Oh, I haven't introduced you. This is our love child, Axl. He's cute, isn't he?"

She tried to make that statement make sense, but completely failed to do so. "Uh, err…." Then she tried again and it made the weirdest sense possible. "What in the world did you do to me while I was dead?"

Axl smiled and laughed at that. "You're funny," he said.

"She is, isn't she?" Zero said, smiling.

"Zero, you'd better explain this," she sternly said. But quietly. She didn't want this to be overheard.

"Oh, sorry about that," X said from behind her. "He's kidding. I'm Axl's father."

Iris was still thinking about the weird sense of love child, so she punched X in the face. "You little…"

X had one hand over his nose and the other signing Iris to watch herself. "Hey, he has nothing to do with you. Other than rebuilding you delayed his activation. He's my kid alone."

Zero was laughing quietly, which made Axl laugh again, even though he couldn't figure out what was so funny. Iris glared at them. "That wasn't funny, you two."

"It was," Zero said. "You'll think so too later."

X took his hand off his face, finding no serious damage. And irritatingly, he laughed too. "Sweet one man. Too bad I didn't think of it."

"I don't like it," Iris said, realizing she was losing her dignity.

Axl tapped her hand. "Can I still call you mommy?"

"No, you little brat."

She said it fiercely enough to make him move behind Zero and sniffle. "Meanie."

X went over and picked Axl up. "There was no need for that. He's been active for less than a week, so he doesn't get it."

"Any child of yours is going to be a vicious monster."

"Then you should leave at once," X said with a dangerous edge. "I won't have you around him if you're going to be a… if you're going to be nasty about it. Go."

"Geez," Zero said. "You were telling me not to take things too seriously."

Iris stormed off. Later, she thought it would have been better if she had cussed them both out then and there, as it was obvious X was trying to keep that away from Axl during his most impressionable period. But it was done, and there was no undoing it.

There would be revenge after all.

* * *

X next introduced Axl to Blues, Rock, and Forte. "You made yourself a kid, huh?" Blues asked.

He put Axl down. "Yeah. That's why it took so long."

"Why a kid?" Rock asked. "He's smaller than me."

Axl tugged at Forte's helmet, so he took it off and let him look at it.

"I put a special armor system on him that takes an expensive alloy to work," X explained. "I couldn't get a hold of enough for his full grown body, so until I can, he's going to be a kid. His programming and testing was all done, even though his project kept getting put on hold the whole time."

"Makes sense. You don't really have a shop droid around."

"That's how he started, but he became more than that. Got attached to him."

"Shop droid?" Forte asked. "He has plenty of reploids around here."

Blues shook his head. "No, a shop droid is a sort of show piece. Shows what the mechanic, engineer, healer, or whatever of a reploid shop is capable of. I'm not fond of the practice myself. Shop droids go maverick at a disproportionate rate to other reploids, often because of neglect or the droid's creator or business going under."

"I have no intention of using Axl like that anymore. He can do what he wants. Besides, if I need an example of my work, I can always call over Zero or Violet."

Axl put Forte's helmet on. "I can't see," he reported.

Forte adjusted it for him. "It doesn't quite fit you."

"I've got a helmet, daddy," he said happily.

X laughed and put the visor down. "I've got one downstairs that actually matches your armor, kid. I'll give it to you later."

Other than the incident with Iris, Axl's birthday party went well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I first posted this at the Bob & George forums, I was making much shorter updates, but they were daily instead of weekly. Sometimes you can still tell where my cut-off points were. Anyhow, I ended one update right at Zero's line introducing Axl as 'our love child'. The reactions to that were just hilarious!
> 
> And you know, if you get pictures of Zero, Iris, and Axl, you can kind of see that working… it doesn't explain his shape-shifting powers. Then again, if you consider that Red didn't know where Axl came from, and that he appeared three games after Iris in an uncertain timeline, it could be plausible. Add a mad scientist to the scheme and you've got a weird but potential backstory to Axl. I considered making a fanfic of that concept. Never got around to it, so you're welcome to snag the idea from me.


	34. The Wedding From Hell

Iris usually wasn't much of a drinker, but this night deserved it.

She had Zero almost under her thumb. Almost. And then that stupid kid of X's had to ruin everything. You weren't supposed to be more loyal to your best friend's kid than to your own girlfriend. Especially not after that offer of a vacation to wherever. True, she had the funds to live a luxurious life of travel from now till whenever, but it meant more from Zero, who didn't have the funds to make her full expectations come true. He needed to be trained up to be a proper boyfriend to her, to do exactly what she wanted whenever she asked it. And not just him. Everyone else needed to be trained to do that too, like she had her family trained to do quite well. But now they were all dead, save for one nutcase and one infidel. They didn't matter.

These were not good times.

She wound up complaining about the whole mess bitterly to some cyborg named Danny who took great interest in her. Normally she wouldn't touch the half-nature half-mechanical freak. But he was listening to her and agreeing with her, unlike every other stupid person in the world. And she was pretty well drunk and didn't care.

"Sounds like you need a new method of controlling people," Danny said.

"My methods worked well for years," Iris grumbled. "It's a surprise how much people will do for a cute smile."

"Well, if he does keep his word and take you on a trip…"

"He won't."

"If he does, you'll have him alone. I have methods of overpowering people in those situations. It wouldn't take much to give you the tools you need."

"You can do that?" she asked sarcastically.

"I can make you a goddess if you wish," he said.

"A goddess?"

He put his biological hand into his shirt pocket. When he opened it in front of her, there seemed to be only a small beetle in it. "Show Iris the power."

Her security systems went haywire for a minute, causing slight panic. "What are you doing to me?"

"It will be brief."

Then her security was overthrown. Her cares were all thrown out too, leaving her with a blissful mind at peace. It made her almost giddy, except too relaxed to be so. "That's some power."

"That is the touch of the Goddess," Danny explained. "I can make you the avatar of the Goddess if you so chose. But that alone will not capture Zero for you."

"But I'm so happy."

"It won't work the same on him, trust me on this. But you will need the touch to do what is necessary to control him. For you see, I need Zero under control too. If you control Zero, and I control you, then it will all be perfect. Your father did not succeed for me. So you must. Agree?"

"Sure, whatever you want."

Danny smiled. "Good."

* * *

X spent the next few weeks watching and teaching Axl. If he had to be working on a repair job or a custom armor, he kept his son nearby, usually with a book or toy of some sort. And he surprised most everyone by trying to stay a good influence when around him. But when away, he was still his old self.

They were playing basketball with an empty milk crate, a new ball, and a stack of metal barrels when X got a message from Zero, who was on a trip with Iris.

"Where is Zero?" Axl asked.

"He's getting married," X said in surprise. "In the Bahamas. Sheesh, so soon? He and Iris aren't inviting anyone… weird."

"I don't like Iris."

"I don't blame you. But she can be nice, if she wants to be."

The back door of the shop opened and Violet came out. "Hey boss."

He grinned. "Hey Violet. Glad to have you back. Come here, you need to meet my son, Axl."

Axl held out his hand. "Hi Violet."

She shook his hand. "Well, hi Axl. This is a surprise."

"He's my secret."

"Ah. Look, I need to talk to you in private. Please? It's about Iris and Zero."

"Yeah, I just got the message they're getting married."

"More than that…"

"Okay." He tossed the ball to Axl. "We'll be just over there, all right?"

He nodded. "Okay." Then he started tossing the ball at the milk crate.

When they got far enough away to be covered by the noise of the shop, Violet said, "This is really bad."

"That they're getting married? I think it's bad they're not inviting anyone, but then again, Iris and I ticked each other off recently."

"How's that?"

"I had a surprise birthday party for Axl. Most of the surprise was I didn't tell any of the guests he even existed, except for Zero who knew about three weeks beforehand. So we joked with her that he was their love child."

Violet put her hand over her mouth, but still giggled. "Oh dear. She didn't take that well, did she?"

"No. She wound up punching me and insulting Axl, so I threw her out of the party. But Zero's still crazy about her, even though he promised to tame her a little bit before bringing her anywhere near the shop again. So what are you worried about?"

"It's about… Iris thought you and Zero were secret lovers cheating on her."

"What the hell gave her that idea?"

"She can blow anything out of context if she gets jealous. That's why everyone was trying to kill you. I got a message from her yesterday. She said she was going to take drastic measures to make sure he married her and stayed loyal. Especially that he would stay away from you from now on." Violet sighed. "She uses people. And everyone else in the family has spoiled her rotten. I'm getting the idea that she doesn't really love Zero. She loves the fact that he loves her so much he's willing to use all his money on a trip to make her happy."

"So she's going to use anything at her disposal to make certain he stays in that mood no matter what she does to him."

"Right. I messaged her back several times, trying to talk her out of this crazy plan of hers, but then she got mad at me and said that she would make sure that I would pay for my insolence. I just don't want Iris to hurt someone just because he really loves her. She's made certain to give him no reason to dislike her, but it's all for show."

"Well damn," X said. "I play games with people, but nothing that sadistic."

"You need to stop their marriage before she really messes him up. I've seen her abuse our brothers in nasty ways, so I know she'll do it to Zero."

"Right, but that's coming up soon. I'll have to leave shortly to catch them." He looked over at Axl, who was still trying to get the ball in the basket. "Look, would you watch Axl for me? I know babysitting isn't in your job description, but he's only a month old. If he develops like other reploids, he won't be up to looking out for himself until he's around eighteen months old."

She nodded. "I don't mind. It can't be that hard."

X smiled. "He's not a bad kid. Okay, let me get some things and say goodbye to him. Hopefully this will only take a day or two."

* * *

It was a normal day at the docks of Puerto Rico. Ships came through, tourists browsed around, nothing out of the ordinary. The dockhand reploid wished something unusual would happen.

A blue reploid teleported onto the docks with a threatening black meta-bike. He glanced around before yelling at the dockhand, "Hey, where's the White Lion's Crown?"

"The Crown? It took off an hour ago." He pointed east. "They're headed for Africa, due to land about noon tomorrow."

"I see." He looked out that way.

"You'd have better luck waiting for it."

"I don't have the ******* time for that," X replied. He got on his meta-bike and sped out over the ocean waves.

"I didn't know meta-bikes could do that," another dockhand said.

"How does he expect to catch up to a speed cruiser on a meta-bike?"

The other one shook his head. "If it can run on water, it might be able to."

* * *

Squad 16 was on active call. Which meant hours of waiting around the den for the ten percent chance, or less, there would be an emergency.

Redwing was hanging from the ceiling. He thought best in that position. He held Tiger Lily's flicka ball. It was made of anti-gravity material and coated in a friction reducing gel. Its five sharp blades hanging loose for now. "I think the Maverick Goddess reploid is still living in hiding."

Then he lightly patted the ball to Cloud Jumper, who caught it gingerly by one of the blades.

Tiger Lily whistled.

CJ grinned. "She must be, for the Cult keeps surviving changes of leadership."

Then he pushed it over to Tiger Lily, who had to duck and snatch it out of the air. "I think she is only a title, for all the reploids that have claimed to be her."

Then she tapped it over in Blues' direction. But Silphia was on the floor and took hold of it. Blues shook his head and laughed silently. "I think it's rather weird that even the male reploids who claim that title still insist on being called a Goddess, don't you think?"

Everyone but Duraunger nodded. He shrugged, so Silphia sent the flicka ball his way. "Gender is only an illusion."

That got vocal laughs.

* * *

X caught up with the massive ship by the time night fully covered the skies. He attached his meta-bike to the side with magnet chains and hopped over the side.

There were a lot of people here in fancy dress. Of course, he thought, this was a Repliforce ship. Even if the mafia was dead, the ship kept the character alive. He went up to the nearest couple and asked, "Hey, do you know where the wedding is?"

"The wedding?" the man asked.

The woman nodded. "Oh, yes, of that lovely reploid couple. Up top in the front of the ship. But they don't want anyone there."

"I've got special permission," X said, and found his way up there.

Iris was there, looking pleased with herself. Zero was there, looking frightened out of his mind. And a priest was there, trying hard to please Iris. X clambered over the barrier. "Hey, congratulations man! Sorry I didn't respond by text."

"Oh, X, um…" Zero tried saying.

Iris glared at him. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, as it's my friend's wedding, of course I'm here. I almost brought Violet along, but she got cold feet for some reason."

The priest looked over his notes. "Um, we were speaking about marriage and all… aren't you supposed to wait for the dramatic opposing?"

X sat in a chair close to the three of them. "Nah, I just wanted to be here. If he wants to get married, I ain't arguing. I think it's a bad idea, but it's his life."

"Oh, fine," the priest said, "I'll just,"

"No, it's not fine," Iris hissed. "You leave right this instant."

"I'm not here for you, I'm here for Glitchy, right?"

"He is my friend," Zero said weakly, already leaning back some.

"That's no reason for him to be here!"

"Hey, chill out. Love is a give and take thing, yeah? So you can deal with me being here if you really love him."

"He does have a valid point," the priest said.

Zero looked a little more confident.

It didn't work. "That is not a valid point. I don't want him or anyone here ruining this moment for us. So tell him to leave. Now."

"Of course the psycho chick says that," X said. "You realize she was the ***** who wanted me dead? Violet told me so."

"You did?" Zero said, then regretted it when he saw her eyes. "I mean… why?"

"You should not concern yourself with that," she said. "You're mine now and you're going to do as I say. Or else."

"Eh-heh, yeah… um, X, would you leave?"

He grinned. "No, I think this is entertaining. Why give up now?"

"We should discuss this calmly," the priest suggested. "There seem to be some unforeseen difficulties in making this marriage work."

"Hah, unforeseen," X muttered.

Zero looked relieved. "Um, sure, we can talk about it."

"Dammit, no!" Iris withdrew an electrified whip and cracked it in the air. "This wedding is going on."

Zero and the priest took several steps back. "Darling, you don't have to do that."

"Oh, so that's how she's got you whipped," X taunted. "How come all the damn dominatrix women like you?"

"Please, no weapons at my ceremonies, I requested that," the priest said, then took another step out of her range.

Iris pointed at X. "Now you leave or I'll make you suffer!"

"So he loves you and you only love to use him. Right, and people call me a dangerous maverick. You dirty spoiled rotten *** ******."

"How dare you!" She struck at him.

X dodged her strike, grabbed the whip end before she could snap it back, and yanked her forward to face his buster arm. "Okay, now I have objections to this union. I think the priest does too."

"Not with what I've paid him."

"Then where is he?"

Iris glanced back and realized that the priest had indeed run off. Zero was standing nearby, uncertain of what to do. "Dammit, you help me."

"See Zero? She won't even say your name."

"Well, um," he said, tapping his fingers together. "I'm so confused."

X managed to kick her hand and take the whip from her. He snapped it into three pieces. "So you scare my kid and my best friend… I used to think you were a nice girl. That's why we never told the ******* Maverick Hunters where you were."

Iris pulled out a blaster. "I don't care what you think. You aren't taking Zero away from me anymore."

* * *

The alert went off in Squad 16's den. Tiger Lily took her flicka ball back.

"We have a trio of unidentified reploids recklessly battling on a pleasure cruise ship," Alia reported. "This is a crowded ship, so we can only send in two."

"Silphia, Duraunger, you two go," Blues said.

"Aye," they both said.

* * *

Iris was a better fighter than she appeared to be. And Zero wasn't doing anything. X smiled. "All right Iris, I never thought I would do this… but you force me to bring out the most insidious weapon in my arsenal."

"Right," she replied. "I've seen you battling and nothing you have can scare me."

" _Well, it scares me,_ " he replied.

"That's your own fault. This will scare you." She altered her armor to a black and red spiked armor suitable for torturing of any kind. And her whip came back, this time made purely of energy.

" _I didn't give you anything like that_."

"That's because you did a terrible job rebuilding me! And since you have no manners whatsoever, I will train you like I did him. You will do my will."

" _I do no one's will but my own. No one has ever broken me and you have no hope to do so. Especially not with what you've done._ "

"Gotcha, but why are you using a girl's voice? You haven't drawn your so-called scary weapon."

" _Oh, I'm using the scary weapon. You'll see._ "

"X!" Zero shouted out, just before he raced over to X. "I am so sorry about this. This was all a huge mistake. Will you forgive me?"

With that, X cut off the voice power. "Yeah, but stay right there, would you?"

He gave a goofy grin. "Sure."

"What are you doing, Zero? You're mine."

He pulled out his Z-buster and fired at her. "Not anymore, brat. I see now I mean nothing to you. So you mean nothing to me! I can't believe I spent so much time moping about because I thought you were dead. You're an evil dark-hearted woman."

"It's called Siren Song," X explained. "It only works on men."

"You seduced him? I knew it! I'll just have to kill both of you now."

"If you recall, I beat you with hardly any effort last time," Zero hissed. "You just asked for your own second death."

She didn't look impressed. "I've had some improvements since then. You won't beat me."

"Hold your fire!" a voice came from down the stairs. "The Maverick Hunters are putting you all under arrest for reckless fighting."

"Oh great, you got the feds on us," X said.

Iris let loose a massive blast of energy, forcing Silphia and Duraunger to stay downstairs. X and Zero managed to jump out of the way. "Charge your buster," Zero said. "Aim it at the crystal."

"What… oh, that crystal," X said, noticing the quite large purple crystal hanging in midair behind her. "Right."

He hung back while Zero darted in next to her. Iris started fighting him back with her whip. X allowed his hacked buster to charge up to max, and then fired at the crystal. It shattered upon impact, causing Iris to shriek. Then there was a cracking sound as something inside her burst and killed her.

X shook his head. "Giving her a weakness like that… how idiotic."

"Put your weapons up," Silphia called from below.

X started charging again. "Do we really have to do this?"

"No," Zero said.

Before X could reply, Zero came over, picked him up, and ran off down the ship's top section. "Warn me before you do that again," X said.

"Sorry." He put X down. "But I wasn't going to let them get you, not now."

X got up on the ship railing. "They'll be following us shortly, you know. Like, within the minute." He pointed over to where the Hunters were running across the ship.

"We'll fight them."

"They'll call backup."

Zero put his hand to his chest. "I will be by your side and defend you no matter how many they call."

X rolled his eyes. "Right. I've got a better plan. Let's jump off the ship."

"Jump off? But, but we're miles from any shore. That could kill even us, over the deep ocean."

"Well, I'm not dying at the hands of Hunters. Later." He jumped.

"Wait, X!" Zero jumped off too.

Silphia and Duraunger got to the back of the ship, but could see nothing in the dark water. "They're as good as dead down there," Duraunger said.

"No kidding…"

"Well, let's collect the girl and get back."

* * *

Zero surfaced. Already, the White Lion's Crown was miles away. He shook his head. "Aw, now my head hurts again." He treaded around. "X, where are you?"

But there was nothing close to him.

"X! Stop kidding around."

No answer.

"I am so dead."

Then there was a response. A mild hum and a glow underwater. Zero swam out of the way and X surfaced, on his meta-bike. "I like my plans."

Zero frowned. "Why didn't you tell me you had your bike here?"

"Didn't get time. Besides, how did you think I got here? You can't teleport onto a ship with the unit in my shop."

"Oh right… I'm going to kill you sometime for this."

He shrugged. "Meh, join the club. I'm sure there's one about. Well, come on up unless you want to stay in the water all night."

Zero swam over and got on. "Your bike isn't really meant for two, you know."

"It's all we've got, so grin and bear it. At least you're not obsessed with me now."

He shook his head as X fired up his bike and started off for shore. "I don't get it. I was confused, then in love with you… sorry about that."

"Actually, that was my fault, so I'm sorry."

"Sure. And then I'm soaking wet and confused again. And do you know how long it takes my hair to dry out?"

"All day."

"So what happened? And why did you keep Siren Song?"

"It's the charged version of Shatter Wave, so I can't get rid of it without getting rid of that nice weapon. I know how it works now and how to correct the results. There are three ways. One is to kill the siren."

"What you did to Cyclone."

"Right. But I wasn't enthused about using it now."

"I don't blame you."

"The second way is to dunk the victim completely in water. Hence the jumping off the back of the ship."

"How does that work?"

"I'm not sure. It doesn't work that way with real sirens, so I guess it's just a result of trying to mimic the effects."

"Oh. So, what's the third method?"

"For me to kiss you."

"Ah…"

"And there's a significant chance that method can backfire, if you get my drift."

"Right. Jumping off the ship was the best way."

"Right. Just don't mention to anyone I still have that power."

Zero laughed. "We have too many secrets between us, you know? Maybe we should stop getting into so much trouble in the first place."

"But that's no fun!"


	35. Corruption of a Hero

Sigma had been up for hours. The window of his office was open to display the Earth's surface. He was examining security tapes, interview tapes, prison tapes, all surrounding one maverick. X.

One tape in particular was kept open and playing. Sigma glanced over and saw X and Zero storm the Sky Lagoon control room. They overthrew Storm Owl and killed him. But most importantly, X moved Sky Lagoon out from over the city. He'd moved it to a location where it killed Dr. Cain.

Sigma didn't particularly like most humans. But he loved his father. Cain had always been interested in keeping tabs on his children. They talked almost daily and often spent days off together. Losing his father was devastating. The fact that X was a large part of his death was maddening.

Yet he also found himself exasperated by other reploids. He knew he was smart, thus making it difficult sometimes to relate to the average reploid. But there were things he could not understand about his race. Like why so many fell for the drugs and lies of the Cult of the Goddess. The chip sharpened flaws in the user, created new ones over time, and eventually drove the user into a sense of unreality and madness. Yet despite every educational program, the Cult still grew.

But no reploid affected him like Maverick X did.

The prank to make him bald was forgivable. It was part of his identity now. The constant humiliation of the Hunters at his hands, that was not forgivable. In the public eye, X had become a sort of Robin Hood. He made fun of the law, especially the Maverick Hunters, and came out scot-free on all accounts. Even Serges and his top rated X Hunters; even they were killed trying to capture him. Sigma suspected X had killed them too, but all he had of that incident was grainy security footage from the subway tunnel. Violen's opponent was unidentifiable. X was too slippery.

Now X had indirectly killed Dr. Cain. And when they had the murderer weakened, everyone else decided to let him go. The idiots! And Signas even… why did Signas have to be on X's side? The two brothers got along and agreed on most every issue. Why couldn't his younger brother see how dangerous X really was?

Someone knocked on the door. "Sigma?"

"Dynamo, what is it now?"

He came in. He was Sigma's current apprentice; Dynamo had joined the Hunters on a reformation program after he'd been struck by lightning. "You need to take a break. And stop by the healing wing if you've been up as long as I think." Dynamo paused when he saw the Sky Lagoon tape. "Sigma? What're you doing?"

"Tracing a criminal mind," he replied. "I need something, some way to draw him out. Something to make him drop his guard."

"You'll get him. You'll make him pay for your father's death."

"I will."

"But you need to stop and rest. Otherwise, you'll get nowhere."

He shook his head. "I'm fine. I'm fine."

Dynamo nodded. "There is something you should know. We captured Iris."

"Repliforce is dead. It doesn't matter now."

"Actually, it does. She knew X."

He turned quickly. "She did?"

"She's dead now. When I got in there, the healers told me she would die completely within minutes. So I interviewed her. I got her to sign a consent form for us to inherit Repliforce's wealth. In exchange, she wants X dead."

"That's good, but there'd better be something to it."

Dynamo smiled. "It's excellent. X has family. Blues is his half-brother."

"And that Rock kid is his full brother?"

"Yes."

Sigma punched the table, denting it. "The bastards! Double dealing us…"

"And there's other family too."

"Other?"

"X has a son by the name of Axl. Originally built as a shop droid, X is now very fond of his boy. Won't let anything bad happen to him."

"I see. How old is this child?"

"Five weeks."

He shook his head. "Too young, we can't do anything with him. But still, an interesting development."

"If you want X, you'll have to use the boy to get him."

"I'd like to Dynamo, but it's not right."

"There is another who wants X dead, by Iris' word."

"Who doesn't?"

"I'm not sure, but the one who does is the Reploid Goddess."

"The one thing we can agree on," Sigma said. "I already knew that, but none of this information will come in handy in arresting X now. Blues and Rock are too popular to deal with. And I'm not doing anything to an innocent child, even if his father is a maverick. Leave me be, I'm still thinking."

"Okay Sigma. Just get some rest. I'm sure things will become clearer then."

"Perhaps."

Dynamo turned to leave, but before he did, he dropped a silver robotic beetle on Sigma's desk.

* * *

The Maverick Hunters had it quiet. The Cult went into hiding, Repliforce was nailed into its coffin, and independent mavericks decided this was not a good time to attack. After moving to their own space station, the Hunters put on war games to keep in top condition.

Signas had won the game, even though his own brother was his adversary. So when he was called into his office, he figured it was for congratulations and teasing.

He knocked on the door, but got no answer. He opened it. He was family and could get away with this. "Sigma? What is it?"

The room was dark. Signas pushed the door shut and turned on the lights. They didn't work. "Hey bro, you need an electrician in here." Sigma's plasma saber activated. Signas turned around to greet him. "What is it?"

"I need you silenced," Sigma said.

He smiled. "What kind of joke you playing, threatening me?"

"No joke." His voice was eerily calm. "The Goddess has come to me and I will avenge our father and save the reploid race. But first, I must take you out."

"Did you get any sleep this week? Come on, I'll take you to the repair wing."

Sigma closed his eyes. "I'm sorry brother, but she says it must be this way."

He attacked Signas. No battle reploid, the younger brother did not stand a chance.

"The Goddess is pleased with you," Dynamo said.

"Let's go," he said with regret, the only emotion he'd displayed so far today.

* * *

Blues hurried to the command center, where the other leaders had gathered. There was a lot of confusion and talking. Proto muttered. He hated disorder. So he whistled loudly, silencing the room. "Where's Sigma?"

"That's the problem," Alia reported. "He's gone maverick."

"So who's in charge?"

She smiled. "Looks like you are."

Great. "Fine. Let's keep calm and orderly. First, what has Sigma done?"

"He, his intern Dynamo, and some Cultists have invaded the Eurasia Space Station. They have altered its course so that it will crash into Earth in the next…" she checked the screen. "Fourteen hours. The resulting damage will be catastrophic to all life on the planet. Even our race will not be able to survive the destruction."

"Have any other of our Hunters gone maverick with Sigma?"

"A few… several were killed or injured on base when they left. Including Signas, who has severe injuries. We're trying to revive him."

"Do we have any strategy whatsoever? We can't do a lot in fourteen hours."

Alia looked at Abadon.

Abadon nodded. "We have two strategies, unless there were any more. One is to use the Eclipse Cannon to destroy the station before it hits Earth. There will still be environmental damage from the pieces, but it will be survivable. The second is to drive an explosive-laden ship into the station, readjusting its orbit so it flies out to space, where it and the mavericks can be recovered. However, someone will have to drive that ship, and that pilot will not be recoverable. We had a third, to invade the station and regain control, but gave up on it as costly in time, men, and materials."

"So we can fire the Eclipse Cannon?"

"There's a problem," Alia said. "The Cannon must be unlocked by three forces: us, the Global Force Militia, and the global government president. However, only Sigma and Signas were approved to know the Hunter password to the super weapon. We can use it if Signas recovers soon, which is unlikely."

"Otherwise," Abadon said, "we need a martyr."

"And that may even fail," Obsidian Gale said. "Sigma can easily shoot the ship out of space if he notices."

"We do have stealth vehicles," someone from the hanger said.

"Are we willing to sacrifice an expensive vehicle like that?" Blues pointed out. "And could we remote control it?"

"Yes and no. Stealth's not available in RC mode."

"But we can't spare anyone on a suicide flight," Alia said.

"I'll do it," Nocturne said from the shadows. "Might as well make some point of my miserable existence."

No one knew why Nocturne was still a Hunter, as his bouts of 'poetic depression' made him unreliable. "Are you certain you wish to do that?" Alia asked, kind as always.

"I will. Just remember me."

"Certainly."

"This can still fail?" Blues asked Abadon and Obsidian Gale.

They both nodded. "Everyone else is as stumped as we are."

"Fine, let's try it." He put his hand to his head. "Does the Earth get to make one last phone call?"


	36. Bikers With Big Guns

"There you go," X said to the awakening reploid. "I've fixed the wiring problem. You should have no more leg pains."

"Oh, that's good," he said wearily.

He turned to the woman who'd come in with him. "He's on ten per Vextril, so he'll be groggy. Just have him sleep it off. If he stops making sense, take him to an emergency care center."

"All right. Thank you sir."

"No problem. Here's the bill. The due date is in a month unless you contact my secretary prior and get a payment schedule set up. The shop number is right there."

"All right. Could you help me get him back to our car?"

X did so, then walked back into the shop. He had no more appointments today and was looking forward to playing games with Axl. Maybe even introducing him to the Battle Network. He was getting old enough to participate with supervision. But then Violet called out from the top floor office, "You've got a personal call on line 4, X!"

"All right! I'll take it down here."

He checked the number. It was Blues. They'd been getting along a lot better, so he didn't mind taking it. "Hey man."

Unfortunately, he was dead serious. "I have a proposition to make. It is a very dangerous mission and you're the only one I can think of who can do it."

X laughed. "You're a Maverick Hunter. You've got plenty of top notch reploids in your space center."

"I'm not kidding." He glanced aside. "Turn your volume up. I have to speak quietly."

He did so. "What's got you all riled up?"

"Sigma has gone maverick. He's overthrown a space station and plans on crashing it. Our calculations show that all life on Earth is in danger. We have less than fourteen hours."

"Sounds like an excuse to party."

"X, be serious. I'm not supposed to be speaking to you on duty. I'm not even supposed to be considering what I'm going to ask you to do. But I feel this is the only way to save the world."

"That's Rock's job, not mine."

"You want to know why you're the one I ask? I need someone with strong battle abilities to go to Area 51. There, you will find a secret government super weapon called the Eclipse Cannon. I need someone to infiltrate the base, overthrow the top class security, make certain the Cannon is in working order, hack into the government security systems to unlock it, then fire it at the falling space colony. The Eclipse Cannon takes half an hour to target and another half an hour to fire. There will only be room for one shot. This must all be done in under thirteen hours, preferably much sooner."

"Damn."

"Sigma nearly killed his brother Signas, who was the only other Hunter who knows the Eclipse password. And there's not a single Hunter I can trust to do all that in one go under the time limit. However, I know you can."

"Okay, look, I do pranks. I try not to break major laws, at least when I'm not drunk. And I'm pretty clean today, being on the job and watching Axl and all."

"If you do this, I will bring Axl to our base. I'm sure you'll agree it's the safest place at the moment."

"That's true." He grinned. "I didn't want to be a hero, but this sounds like too much fun to pass up."

"Great. Good luck little brother."

X brought up his phone directory and started copying numbers and names. Given the short amount of time, there wasn't much room for planning. But he'd try with the slight idea he had. "Hey guys!" he yelled into the shop. "Drop everything! Everyone down here, pronto!" They gathered, curious. He handed out lists. "We have a mission that needs to take place in Nevada. And we need all the men and weapons we can get our hands on in under three hours, preferably less."

"Three hours? These names are all over the world."

"Arcanine, you're in charge of checking our machinery, and I may be adding units on. Everyone else, call up all these people, and more if you can get a hold of them. We will begin teleporting ourselves in one and a half hours. Now go, and no hesitating."

"What do I do, dad?" Axl asked with a tug at his arm.

"I'm going to leave you with Blues. Don't make any trouble for him."

"But I want to help too."

"If you were older and trained with weapons, you would be helping me with things. But for now, this is too dangerous."

"Oh, fine."

* * *

Duff McWhalen and Squid Adler were in Hangers 11 and 12 playing Underwater Battleship when a low level alarm sounded. "Oh shoot," Adler said.

"Alien seekers?" Duff asked.

"Probably."

Before long, Izzy Glow came over the intercom system. "All hands to stations! We may have a live firing!"

"Live firing?" just about everyone on base said.

"The Eurasian Station is attacking, we're not certain how. We're waiting on details. But there may be problems with the keys."

Adler contacted Izzy through his com. "What problem?"

"We're still waiting on reports," the firefly said. "But from what I hear, people knowing the keys have been killed. Is there any way to fire without the password? The vice president has been asking."

"No," Adler said. "There's no way in hell that thing can fire without the keys."

"Then I hope enough people who know the keys are alive."

* * *

Three hours later, a mass of bikers gathered in the Nevada desert. Many of the bikes were armed, armored, or both. There were a dozen light tanks and one large military hovercraft with an air cannon installed. All of the Blasted Machine Shop workers were there, even Violet. She had a special bike that X was instructing her on.

"You've got that all?"

She nodded. "Sure. I should manage."

"Good. You be careful today."

She smiled. "What, you worried about me?"

X laughed. "Maybe. That or I won't have time to look out for you. All right, if you've got that down, I have to address this crowd."

"Good luck to you too."

X grabbed a megaphone, then leapt into the air. He activated his hover jets and hung himself about ten feet in the air. "All right, you rowdy lot!" he called into the megaphone. "Are you ready for some action?"

The crowd cheered. He waved at them to calm down.

"I thank you all for coming on such short notice. I especially want to thank whoever is running that massive cannon tank over there."

There were hoots from that end.

"I want you all to know that this is a matter of life or death. This won't be easy and you may wind up shot or even dead today. But, as you may know from the IC channels, there is a hijacked space station up there that is going to crash down here, killing everyone. I have brought you here because I have a plan to blow that station to smithereens and keep on living. And you're going to help me."

More cheers.

"Out there," he called, pointing toward the west, "is Area 51, home to a super weapon called the Eclipse Cannon. It is more than capable of blasting the station out of the sky. But for some reason, the government isn't firing it, even though we have paid millions in taxes every year for its existence. So we the people are going to overtake Area 51 and fire the Cannon right under their noses! We must strike fast and strong. They have excellent security and we have less than ten hours to break into that place and complete our objective. As I said, this is very dangerous and I don't expect us to get through without trouble. But if that station falls, we'll die anyways. So, are you coming with me to Area 51 and the Eclipse Cannon?"

Everyone there yelled, "Yes!"

"Thank you all. Now, you with the giant air cannon, I want you to assault the weapon towers. The light tanks need to breach the security fence. Then the rest of us will swarm in and throw out the posted officials. My crew will attempt to get to the Cannon to make certain it can be fired. We'll need you to guard us from military backup. All of you take care of yourselves and each other. Now, let's go take that Cannon!"

As everyone started up war cries, X dropped out of the sky, got on his meta-bike, and took off for the front of the pack.

* * *

At Area 51, Grizzly Slash was explaining the situation. "So with Sigma gone rogue, his brother near dead, the cabinet minister of war dead, the president in the hospital, two Global Force generals dead, and the other general under emergency care, we can't get the keys. Signas may be revived in eight hours. The humans may take that long or longer. But it's iffy, and by that point, it'll hardly matter."

"Good grief," Adler said. "How did anyone let the situation get to this point?"

"No one expected Sigma to do this," Izzy said.

The alarm sounded as the alert went to a higher level.

"What now?"

Grizzly blinked at the screen. "We have bikers. Approximately one hundred headed this way. And a handful of tanks, including a Class-S hover tank."

"Bikers?"

A loud explosion sounded outside.

"They're firing at us?"

"Let's go secure the base."

The four reploid leaders dashed off to various stations, increasing base security. But the light tanks were already pelting the west wall. Cracks were appearing.

"Adler!" Duff called out. "Obstructive measures!"

"Right!"

The two underwater reploids had been hired to keep the water system clean, a vital part of the Eclipse Cannon system. From under various pools of water, they started materializing icy or stony blocks to place in the way of the invaders. In the blistering Nevada heat, the ice quickly melted and water drained into the soil, turning it to mush. The stone blocks kept any open paths for bikes unavailable. Then the west wall came down.

The hovercraft blasted its way into the base, obliterating most of Alder and Duff's blocks. It began firing at the larger weapons. The smaller light tanks came in next, heading for the south wall to pummel it too. And then the metabikers came in. Those few with tires had to head for concrete to avoid the wet sand, but most were hovercraft. These ones moved over the rocks and began firing at armored personnel.

"What now?" Izzy asked.

Grizzly growled. "We must use lethal force. They can't get hold of the Eclipse Cannon under our watch."

"Right," the other three agreed. They began attacking.

The bikers responded by getting out of the way. Most were not fighters. Zero had come in on Dyne's bike. He leapt off and fought Grizzly one on one. Arcanine jumped off Iron Panther's bike and into one of the pools of water. His special weapon, plasma discs, got a reaction from Duff, who tried dodging. So Arcanine took the whale on.

X opened his com unit. "Okay Violet, now!" He and Violet started special programs on their bikes, transforming them into Ride Armors. They appeared to be much worse; the bikes did not have enough materials to make the full eight to ten foot Armors whole. But X had developed special force fields that worked just as well as true metal plating. And since these were much lighter than true Ride Armors, they moved quicker and leapt higher. X's Black Cat grew large claws and ten plasma gun barrels. Violet's metabike used an ice cannon and hover jets. She jumped in after Adler, who was overloading other metabikes with electricity from the safety of the water. She'd never battled in real life before, but she got some help from a trio of humans with rifles above the water. Between her ice cannon and the rifle sharpshooters above, Adler didn't stand a chance.

That left the firefly to X. Izzy was flying like crazy, trying to keep up a volley of laser fire while dodging hits himself. And as if that weren't enough, he'd teleport every so often. X instructed Black Cat to project Izzy's teleport paths on the force fields. He kept after the firefly, slashing and firing where he would appear. Finally, he connected and impaled Izzy with a plasma blade while he was trying to reappear.

X checked everyone else, but it seemed the takeover was over. Zero hadn't taken much time with Grizzly, so he had dropped down in the water with Arcanine and Violet to defeat Duff. Now all three were jumping out of the pool. "The Leaders are down!" he called over the public com channel. "Where's the rest?"

"The artillery section is all down," one of the tank operators reported.

"A number of personnel are fleeing through the north gate," someone called.

"Let them go, we have the base. My people, into the cannon station. The rest of you, keep watch."

There were lots of cheers and chatter going on over the public channel. X let it go on. He morphed his bike back and parked by the cannon station.

* * *

Squad 16 connected to Blues' nephew instantly. They believed that he was supposed to be babysitting Axl anyways, but with the emergency going on, he was tied up. So while Proto was busy on the IC network, speaking with government officials and running the Hunters, the others didn't mind sitting in the den with Axl telling him stories of their missions.

"So he was readying his cannon, and I couldn't move because of the spikes," Tiger Lily was saying. "I ducked, to take the least amount of damage. And then his cannon blew up in his face. It was a homemade model, and a very poor one at that."

"Bad for him," Axl said. "Too bad."

"Would have been worse if that cannon had fired," Cloud Jumper said. "Then the explosion would have been bigger."

"I've seen cannons, but dad won't let me use weapons. Says I'm too young."

"How young are you dear?" Silphia asked.

"I'm seven months old. And I just learned how to skateboard."

"Blues." Alia called over the IC. "There's some urgent news for you from Global Force. A band of rebel bikers has overtaken Area 51 and the Eclipse Cannon has been cut off from their network. We can't access it either."

"What about the vice-president?"

"Haven't heard, but I doubt it."

Good, he thought. X was in and they had over nine hours left to fire the cannon. "We need to keep an eye on what they're doing, but our priority is continuing talks with Sigma to get this over with without violence."

"Those are doing poorly."

"If you need me to speak to him myself, page me and I'll be up there asap."

* * *

X was using every method he knew to hack into the Eclipse OS.

Iron Panther came up to the operator's station. "X, the cannon needs a few adjustments and parts installed. We've located those parts and are working on it now."

He nodded. "Good. Has someone checked the barrel to make sure it won't explode on us?"

"Glitchy's in there checking on it. I told him what to look for."

"He can do maintenance on guns, so he should be fine. Carry on."

Panther smiled. "What are you grinning for?"

X chuckled. "We're going to fire a giant cannon! I'm having a blast. That and that silly firefly had a weapon I copied. Hilarious."

"But you keep saying you hate that system."

"I do, but some are good. And this one's a riot. It's called the ******* laser."

Panther cracked up. "You kidding me?"

"I haven't tried it out, but I think I'll wait until I'm alone."

"Whatever boss. You figure out that security so we can fire this lovely cannon."

He had a password program running, but a full run would take 10 hours. So he got up and investigated the office. As usual, there were little knickknacks and personal items scattered about. In particular, this person seemed to like astronomy and meteorology. There was a calendar on the wall themed on the moon. He scanned through it and noted dates marked as birthdays, anniversaries, or such.

Then he went back to the operator station. He tried all the dates marked on the calendar. Then he played with astronomy terms starting with various eclipses. Total eclipse, partial eclipse, solar eclipse, lunar eclipse… it finally accepted EclipseShadow as the password.

* * *

Zero braced himself between the cannon walls and inspected the barrel.

It was a plasma type weapon. The telltale tubes were in a perfect spiral. According to Panther, this was just a humongous gun. So Zero inspected the inside as if it were his Z-buster. He checked for scratches, making sure he wasn't doing any scratching himself. He checked for cracks and signs of metal fatigue. He checked for poor welds or compromised tubing. Thus far it seemed in perfect working order.

He made it to the top section and finished his inspection. Yes, it was ready to fire. He glanced down the thirty-foot barrel. Nothing should stop this thing from going. He could hear the mechanics below talking about parts, programming, and other technical things he could not follow. Checking the barrel manually was about the only thing he could do now. For the moment, he closed his eyes and relaxed. The top of a giant cannon was an odd place for meditation. But a little bit each day kept him at ease.

He hoped no one below was messing with Angel.

Something sounded off.

He looked down. He could hear conversations below. Earlier, he could make out the words perfectly. But now he couldn't. He just heard gibberish.

He tapped his ear. He should probably have X check them.

Then the cannon barrel went fuzzy, like static snow. Everything refocused in three seconds, but not to the way it was. He was now looking down at Earth. From a space station of some sort. Then the Earth turned to static snow and the Eclipse Cannon barrel returned. He was still braced at the top of the cannon.

Zero felt a shiver in his system. That was not a good sign. But he wasn't sure how to interpret it. He looked ahead of him, at the cannon's wall. It had a slight reflective quality and he could make out a blurry image of himself. He heard gibberish again, but it couldn't have been from the guys below. He was too far up the cannon to be hearing them at this volume. And it kept getting louder and irritating, like fingernails on chalkboard, or metal scraping metal added to the throbbing tick of a clock.

He covered his ear with the one hand, but then realized the feedback noise was coming from inside his head.

His first instinct was to drop down and talk to X about it right away. He couldn't remember ever hearing this internal noise before and it probably signaled a major problem. But then he noticed his reflection becoming clearer, more like a true mirroring. Only the cannon walls could not do that.

And it wasn't exactly his reflection. It was too… too feminine to be him.

Then the ticking clock paused to sound out 'klong!,' at a massive volume in his head. But it wasn't one o'clock. Right?

"Hey Zero!"

He cringed at the com message, but the internal noises vanished, as well as the creepy mirror effect. He looked back over and it was just a fuzzy faint version of himself. "What is it, Panther?"

"You done with the barrel?"

"Yeah, let me get down."

He dropped down and listened. He heard everyone clearly. Shaking his head, he made an internal note that X had to hear about this. It was too weird to be normal.

* * *

'Please enter the keys for firing sequence…'

'Key 1 (Global Forces)'

'Key 2 (Maverick Hunters)'

'Key 3 (Authoritative Government Branch Official)'

So this is what Blues meant by unlocking it. No one was going to let this weapon be fired accidentally. But now that X was in the system, there might be a way to bypass everything. He began to check out various programs in the system, especially the maintenance program. There, he found a tantalizing clue.

'To proceed with the 100 Blank Firing Test Sequence, use maintenance password 'Apple17' on the Eclipse Cannon base computer C. Replace live load with blank load if live load is in place. Otherwise, load blank load. The Cannon will go through full targeting and firing sequences. Check that the following occurs:' and then it listed a long list of actions, down to the half-second. It ended with, '100BFTS will cause slight wind downdrafts in target area, but no real damage will be done.'

There seemed to be no check to make sure they weren't using a live instead of a blank. He told the computer he wanted to run 100BFTS and it willingly told him that base computer C was on the Eclipse Cannon shaft.

X went to the Eclipse Cannon's shaft where his men were working on it. He met Panther in the doorway. "Oh good, we just finished everything here."

He grinned. "We've got a way to fire it. Did you happen to see a computer labeled C in some way?"

"C? Hey Arcanine, any computer C?"

"Yeah, this one over here."

"Good. Chose test firing, then 100BFTS, then enter password Apple17, no space, capitol A. Is it loaded live or is it dead?"

Panther pointed, "Reno was on that."

"It's fully loaded live. Seems they were told, but were waiting."

"Zero, how's the barrel look?"

"Looks excellent. It'll definitely hold."

Arcanine called over, "Hey X, it says to make sure the load is dead!"

"Tell the computer it is. We need to get out of here and into the control room."

"Right."

Area 51's warning system activated the emergency lights and sirens. 'Eclipse Cannon in full test mode. All personnel please evacuate to safe shelters.'

X and his crew went back to the control room. "Violet, would you find the intercom and tell all the guys out there to go into the safe zones? They're marked by three green triangles."

"Gotcha." She located it and warned the others.

The operator station had gone to targeting mode. Only a small box in the corner of the broadcast area noted that this was a test sequence. He checked around for explanation screens and found several, including one that noted, 'Once test is complete, Eclipse Cannon will be unable to fire again for twelve hours.'

"How's this thing fire anyways?" Dyne asked.

"We'll see. I have one shot to get this right." X started finding calculations to hit the space station.

* * *

"This stealth vehicle operates exactly the same as our regular space vehicles," Olive Green told Nocturne. "We've got the correct flight path into the Eurasia station programmed into the guidance system."

"All right," Nocturne said. "That should hold no difficulty."

"You're doing a brave thing Nocturne," Blues said. "Your actions will be honored, I promise. But I am very sorry things had to get this desperate."

"It's fine, I understand. For the sake of the world…"

"This is urgent!" Alia said after hijacking their com units.

"Sorry Alia. What's happening?"

"Okay, that group of bikers that overtook Area 51? They're going to fire the Cannon. We can't figure out how they bypassed the keys."

"Where are they targeting?"

"I can't see how that's important. We need to talk to them and… erm…"

"What is it?" Nocturne said.

"They're targeting the Eurasian colony?"

"Hold on," Blues said. He looked at the other two. "We can't proceed with this plan until the Eclipse Cannon either stops or misses."

"Oh good," Nocturne said. "I hope they don't."

"So do I. Alia, can we calculate their targeting sequence and see if they will succeed?"

"It'll take a few minutes. Hang on."

"We might not need a martyr. Still, adjust that flight path to later, just in case."

* * *

"Any time now," Sigma said to himself.

"Sir," Dynamo came over the intercom, "the Eclipse Cannon is about to fire."

"By whose orders?"

"Not the government. They haven't revived Signas yet."

"Very well. Our plan will move forward."

"Yes sir."

Moments later, the Eclipse Cannon fired, striking the Eurasian Space Station dead on. Various junk fell from the skies, but most of the debris was blown away from the planet. The government agencies were mystified by how the Cannon fired without proper clearance. It took them a whole year to discover the 100BFTS could be run with a live load provided you guessed the operator's password.

That was mostly because after the successful firing, the bikers decided to celebrate and vanished into Los Vegas.


	37. A Past Mistake

"Dude, you haven't paid for a single drink all night."

X laughed. "Isn't it great? Maybe I ought to get into this hero bit more often."

Zero nodded. "It was worth it, for once."

"I might stop after this round though."

"What for? It's still early."

"It's midnight."

"You said never stop until one in the morning, then see if you can keep going."

"Ah, that was years ago. I have to pick up Axl around seven."

"But he's with your brother, right? He can wait a few hours."

"True. Since you're single again, want to come with me to pick up some girls?"

"I'm not sure I'm up to doing that yet." He took a drink. "But give me a few more rounds and I might just."

They both laughed at that. "A few more rounds and we might be up for all night karaoke or the like."

"That sounds sweet. Do you still have that Elvis Presley armor in your system? That would be so righteous."

"You know, I think I do."

"You do a great Presley."

"Why thank you. Thank you very much."

"No, don't get me started."

"On what?"

"Do-wap."

"How do you get do-wap out of Elvis Presley?"

"I'm not sure. It's all fuzzy."

"What's fuzzy?"

Zero waved his hand about. "Space, Time, in my mind. It's all gone and collapsed before and I've been different ever more."

"Space time crash? Are you talking about that Cataclysm thing? Were you even activated then?"

"I was made by Dr. Wily."

"True."

Zero closed his eyes and seemed to be thinking. Or swaying. "Cataclysm. I'm not sure I remember that. Or if I do, it had to do with fish… swimming… fire…"

X was ordering another round for both of them. "Fish and fire? Nah, not really."

He opened his eyes and looked over. "What was it then? What you saw of it."

"What was it, the event that killed both of our fathers? It was bizarre. It started out with a ship, the Mary Lou."

"Mary Lou?"

"Yeah, some tour boat in New York City. It was my first mission ever. I was with Rock, of course."

"Of course."

"Dr. Wily had put some nuclear bombs on this ship, the Mary Lou. Rock and I went to stop them from exploding. Rock took care of the battle robots on deck and I went below to disarm the two nuclear warheads."

"You can do that?"

X shrugged. "Well, I did."

Zero hit his forehead. "Should have been obvious. The city's still standing."

X shook his head. "I missed a pair of secondary triggers that set the bombs off, sending radioactive materials into the jet stream."

"You're kidding."

"No I'm not. And the Mary Lou wasn't the only one. There were a total of twelve nuclear weapons that exploded shortly after those two did, all over the world. Everyone had to go into hiding to survive."

"So how come the world isn't still irradiated?"

"Because of the Cataclysm."

"That wasn't it? Twelve nuclear warheads exploding was not the Cataclysm?"

"Nope." He took a drink and considered the next turn of events. "There was an accident with a space-time weapon. I'm not certain of the details, but it totally wiped out the nuclear fallout. It brought New York City back from the grave. It completely erased one day."

"Erased a day…"

X nodded. "April 10th, 20XX. The day that never was."

"But… that's the day they both died."

"And that day is not recorded in the memories of any robot or reploid still active. Nor on any computer, recording, human memory, nothing. If anything was remembered, it's fuzzy and illogical. I don't remember a thing of that date."

"So that's how we ran into him, because the day he died is non-existent. You think Dr. Light's still around?"

"His ghost is. Bloody pain in the neck."

"Well, they say Time is only an illusion."

X felt a chill in his systems and wasn't sure why. "So it goes."

"Actually, both Space and Time can become fuzzy and even non-existent when conditions are right. All it takes is the proper will, willing to mess with people's heads."

His sense of Zero sitting at the bar sharpened dramatically. Everyone and everything around them became a blur. Like they weren't really there. Either that, or X was really drunk at this point. He wasn't sure which. He thought he heard ticking.

"The weapon of the Eternal Clock was meant to reach into normal Time-Space and warp it to the will of the user."

"The Eternal Clock? You do know about the Cataclysm."

"If only because Forte and I were in the middle of the collapse."

The bar changed, from a dim wooden building to a bright marble staircase with a red carpet. X found himself leaning on one of the rails. Zero was sitting on the other.

"Time and Space mean nothing at the Clock itself."

X recognized this place, as the Grand Staircase on the Mary Lou. His memory of that event played through his head, and something about it seemed odd. He didn't think about this memory, for several reasons, so it had yet to occur to him, "Did we meet before I found you in the alleyway? Were you on the Mary Lou?"

"The whole of Reality, simply crashing down around you… it was enough to drive Forte to religious zealotry. And I…"

There was a cherry wood grandfather clock against the wall. Which was odd, because X didn't remember it being there. It struck three.

"What are you doing?"

"X?"

"Is it three o'clock?"

The bar reasserted itself and got noisy. Zero clapped him on the back and laughed. "Wake up X. We were going to do karaoke, remember?"

He rubbed his eyes. "What's going on? It's still only midnight?"

"Of course. You need another drink?"

"Maybe. I saw something really weird…"

Zero shrugged. "Well, you sort of drifted off to la-la land for a few after we were talking about Elvis Presley. I think."

"I guess." He glanced around, where the bikers were joking around or listening in on them. "Okay, whoever drugged my drink is gonna get it!"

"Who around here is going to mess with you?" Dyne asked.

"I dunno, but some of you guys over there look suspicious. Yeah, I'm talking about you."

"Come on, let's go sing. It'll clear your mind."

* * *

It was late night at a truck stop. A large woman was running the counter at the same time she was watching her little boy playing with a noisy toy. There were three truckers at the counter eating, one of them being Magma Dragoon.

"Where'd you come in from?" one of the truckers asked Dragoon.

"Ontario," he replied. "Headed for Miami."

"We're on the Francisco to Boston loop," he replied.

"Still," the other said. "And he still hasn't gotten any good music."

"Not my fault you don't like country."

"I'm new," Dragoon admitted. "Wasn't much else for me to do."

"Where is your cab, by the way? I only see our truck."

"I don't own a cab. I grab the hookup and fly."

"Now that's a convenient way to run things. Saves a lot of money on fuel. Not to mention how much cabs run these days."

Dragoon shook his head. "Not really. You know how much my insurance costs have gone up? I thought I had nasty rates as a Maverick Hunter."

The country hater looked at him. "You gave up being a Hunter to be a trucker? Why in heaven's name would you do that?"

"It wasn't my fault, not entirely. I made a deal, the other side failed to fulfill their end of the bargain, so I wind up out of a job. And without a single fight to boot! I only agreed to it because I thought I would get some serious battling. And then, nothing."

"Aren't you worried the Hunters will come after you?"

"I've been waiting for them for months. They'd better send someone good. I've been searching for a good fight for years and haven't found it yet."

"I got a tiger!" the little boy told Dragoon, holding his plastic toy up for all to see.

"Piss off, you little twerp," Dragoon said.

Seconds later, he got clobbered with a rolling pin. The woman behind the counter shook it at him. "All right, no fowl language in front of my boy. Apologize for calling him a twerp."

He rubbed his head, which was stinging. "Hey, what're you thinking bringing a brat in here in the first place?"

"That's none of your beeswax." She smacked him with her kitchen utensil again. "Now get out of here before I call the police on ya."

He knew better than to mess with a mother with a rolling pin. "All right, all right. Creep." He left the truck stop in a hurry, but as he was picking up his load, he recalled that he had asked for a battle. Crud, just his luck.

* * *

In the morning, Blues and Axl teleported to the Blasted Machine Shop. Axl ran into the shop and looked around. "Dad, where are you?"

"Probably sleeping somewhere. My guess is he went out partying late."

"Aw, I miss all the fun."

They searched the shop, but there was no trace of anyone anywhere. "I thought somebody'd be back by now," he murmured.

"Hey Uncle, do you think I could be in the Maverick Hunters when I get older?"

Normally, he'd encourage any reploid who wished to join. "I'd talk with your father about that. Sometime when he's in a good mood."

The kid seemed excited. "It sounds really cool, and all your squad mates were nice."

"Is there anything else you were thinking of doing?"

Axl shrugged. "Not really, I just thought of it. But I always like to hear Uncle Rock tell me about when he was a hero. Do you know if my dad did anything like that?"

"It was a long time ago. He loves working with machinery more than anything."

"Okay."

Axl looked up at his uncle. He'd been formulating another question as they were walking around outside when he spotted a stranger come up to them. One rushing at Blues' blind side with an active weapon.

"Uncle!"

It was too late for a warning. Sigma sliced Blues in two before he even noticed. Axl backed up and tried to think of a place he could hide. Dynamo snatched him up from behind. "Hold on kid."

He struggled. "Let me go!"

"Stop struggling," Dynamo said and slapped the side of his head.

Sigma walked up to them, his saber still active. This stilled Axl more than anything Dynamo did. "You would be Axl, the son of Maverick X, correct?"

"I'm a good boy," he said softly. "I didn't do anything."

"It doesn't matter what you did. It's what your father's done. You will cooperate with us or we will kill you. Got that?"

"O...Okay."

"Good kid. Let's go."


	38. Deadly Epiphany

Violet went back into the office to straighten up. It was two in the afternoon and everyone was still recovering from last night. She hadn't gotten drunk with the guys, but she had stayed up late to see a show and wander about window-shopping. She was nervous today. Do I, do I not? It was something she'd thought of for a long time, and some things X had said yesterday only encouraged her.

Then he came up. "Have you got any messages from my brother? Axl's not in his room."

"No, I don't. There's a few on shop business, but nothing else."

He said a quiet curse. "Well, I'll try calling him. Anything directly for me?"

"No,"

"Okay then. Oh, and make sure I have no appointments after four today. Zero's complaining about some internal feedback that I have to check out."

"But wait a moment. I want to talk to you."

"Sure, what about?"

"I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out or something in the next few days. I'm not really doing anything, so…"

He smiled at her. "Are you trying to ask me out?"

Had she been that obvious? "Well, yeah, I guess."

"That's sweet of you, although you're not the sort of girl I usually go out with."

"But I like you. Most of them hardly know your name, right?"

"That's true." He paused, then glanced outside the office. "Look, Violet, you are a nice girl and I do like you. But we can't be any more than friends."

"Why not?" She swished her tail, trying to look angry, but it didn't work.

X put his hand on her shoulder. "Please don't take it that way. It would just be… a little freaky for me to date you. I did build your shell."

"But my mind is my own."

"And you remind me of my sister."

Violet looked at his eyes, because he seemed sad to be saying that. It wasn't like him to show any signs of sadness. "Your sister?"

"Yeah, Roll. She was only a robot, but I liked her a lot. Like how I felt about Rock before I upgraded him. She was the only one who could keep the peace between my father and me."

"What happened to her?"

"Aliens kidnapped her."

"Oh, sorry. I guess I can understand that."

He nodded. "Good. But you remember, any other guy messes with you, call me right up, okay?"

She smiled a little. "Sure X."

It was still very disappointing.

"Hey X!" Dyne yelled from the shop floor. "We found your brother!"

He ran over to the railing. "Where's he been?"

"He's dead."

"Oh ****." X leapt over the railing and onto the shop floor. "Where is he?"

"Out back."

Blues had been split in two from head to hip. X looked around in a rising panic. "Where's Axl?"

"We haven't found him yet," Dyne said.

His first thought was that he could be hiding. But X hadn't given him his helmet yet, so he couldn't hide that way. "Where've you looked?"

"Along this wall, since we found him."

Arcanine came up with a piece of paper. "Here, I found this against the fence. Must have blown away."

"I'm afraid he's been dead for several hours," Iron Panther said.

X's systems got cold quickly with fear. "Axl's been kidnapped by Sigma."

"Wasn't he on the Eurasia station?"

"Look, tell the Maverick Hunters he's here. I'm going to find Axl."

"All right boss," Arcanine said.

"Hey, don't… doesn't he want us to get Zero to help?" Dyne asked as X ran off.

Arcanine shook his head. "The note says if anyone else comes, they'll kill his son before he gets there. He has to go alone."

"That is such an obvious trap," Dyne responded.

"Yes, but they plan on killing Axl anyways if he doesn't get there in time. All we can do is inform the Hunters and hope X is up to this."

* * *

The directions in the note sent him to the Sahara desert. Dry barren land stretched to every horizon in a flat sheet. It was nighttime here, which was a good thing. These sand flats were probably blinding by day. As the note said, he faced east. Off in the distance, he could see a speck of something. It was several miles off, and he had not brought his meta-bike. Or any special armor. He should have, but time was running short. He ran for the speck, using his dash jets to go as fast as possible. It took ten minutes for him to reach the speck. It was a group of pyramids that had been in the middle of this desert for centuries.

Sigma was waiting for him. "You're later than I expected."

"Where's my son?"

"We'll talk about that later. Right now, I want to talk about my father."

"Dr. Cain? I haven't heard from him in a while."

"That's because he's dead," he said angrily. "And you killed him."

"I wasn't aware of that."

"You moved Sky Lagoon right over his location. You knew what you were doing."

"I did not. I had no idea they meant to blow the thing up. I just wanted it out of the way."

"You're a dirty liar. You meant to kill him. You've said such threats before."

"Probably when I was in a bad mood. You have no proof."

"That is not so. I have proof you have killed your own father."

"What does that have to do with this? I wasn't near the lab when he died."

"It shows that you don't care about anything unless you get your way, that you will do anything to get what you want. You've risked your brother's life to get your business in a game of poker. No matter what you do now, your crimes are unforgivable."

"I want Axl back and if I have to kill you to do that, I will."

"As I said, anything to get your way."

X began to suspect that this whole Maverick Sigma scenario was a complex ruse to get admission of guilt. They could have even faked Blues' body. "Where are you getting all this information on me?"

"From someone who knows you well. I am speaking of the Reploid Goddess."

"The Goddess? Zero told you this?"

"No, Dr. Wily implanted an independent program within Zero to control him. It is this program that gives rise to his powers of ecstasy. When you repaired Zero, you unwittingly shut the Goddess program down. She's very angry with you, as we all are. She has been from mind to mind ever since, collecting information, intelligence, and power. She has been in Dr. Doppler, Iris, and I allowed her to examine your half-brother after he died. She has been in others as well, but these three knew your shadows."

Shoot. If the Goddess knew everything those three knew… "Tell me where my son is."

"This will be your execution ground. We will take care of your son properly. You need not fear for him. He'll know everything about you."

"You'll regret this."

Sigma rushed at him, activating his saber only at the last moment. X darted out of the way and ran off while charging his buster. Once it was at full power, he stopped, turned to face Sigma who had come charging after him, rolled aside, and fired.

His fully charged buster hardly scratched Sigma's battle armor. But it gave him enough time to notice Sigma had put earplugs in. Shatter Wave couldn't fully work if the target could not hear. The Goddess would know almost all of X's weaponry. Almost.

X currently had two laser weapons: Aiming Laser, which was horribly weak, and Firefly Laser, which wasn't as funny as what he thought it was and it was horribly slow. But they were the same type of weapon, so there was a fair chance he could combine the two. He started with A-laser and targeted Sigma, but ended by firing F-laser along A-laser's targeting path. The firefly missile turned into a guided missile and slammed into Sigma hard. He followed that with a round of Ground Hunter, which was also a guided missile, now auto-targeted to A-laser's target. Finishing it off with a charged buster shot to about the same area and X wound up with a heavy-hitting combo attack. Sigma was knocked to the ground with at least one heavy crack in his armor.

X darted over and aimed his buster right at Sigma's face. "Where is my son?"

"X…"

"Tell me."

Sigma's eyes turned red. He fired a large pink ray. X was blown back several feet to land on his back, stunned. Whatever that weapon was, it had taken a lot out of him. His internal scanners were registering critical damage levels all over his body. He could keep fighting, but he needed a few moments for self-repair.

Sigma walked over. "Mavericks never win," he said.

His mind raced, rushing out an idea that just might work. He began laughing.

"What's so funny? You're going to die."

"I have lost, I'll give you that. But you have lost as well.

"Not at all."

"Sigma… you were the top Maverick Hunter. You were the most noble and admired reploid around. But what about now? Now the world knows you as the top Maverick, not top Hunter. And why is that? You nearly destroyed all life on Earth to destroy me. You kidnapped a child not even a year old and threatened to kill him, just to destroy me. You nearly killed your own brother, just to destroy me. You sacrificed your mind, body, and soul to the Goddess, just to destroy me. I lost the battle. You lost your honor."

As he'd hoped, Sigma looked horrified. "But I…"

X got up, painfully. "Now look… I'll tell everyone in the world you defeated me. I'll even let myself be arrested and tried for everything I have done. Just tell me where Axl is! Once I know he is safe," he paused, feeling overwhelmed. "Once I know that, I will even let the true Hunters raise him, if you wish that. I just want to know that he is still alive and well."

"He… he's over by that pyramid with Dynamo. But I've lost Dynamo's signal since our battle started."

"He'd better be over there," X said angrily.

Despite having his pain sensors constantly ringing, X walked over to that pyramid. When he got there, Dynamo was nowhere to be seen. Axl was curled up on the ground motionless. There was significant damage to his armor. X dropped to his knees and touched him. "Axl? Wake up."

When nothing happened, X touched his outlet ports to check manually. But his query got no reply. He picked Axl up and tried touching both ports. "No, Axl…"

"Can he be repaired?" Sigma asked.

"I can't get a signal off him." He forced open one of his pockets and pulled out two wires. "I have to get something."

"What are you doing?"

"Last chance method. It's too risky to be commonly known. If I can't revive him, I might shut down myself trying to."

He linked his outlet ports to Axl's. The deadly silence of his son's mind was terrifying. But he had to remain calm to make this work. He linked minds and attempted to jump start Axl under his power. The scariest thing of all was that he had only read about this method in theory. As far as he knew, no one had actually made it work.

But it had to work.

Then he sensed a spark of activity. X clung onto that and empowered it. He began to sense stray memories and feelings. His power core began to report excessive strain from injuries and trying to support another life. No, he couldn't stop. He bypassed his own security functions to keep the connection going.

Axl's power core restarted. His central core took another few seconds to fully regain control. His body was still motionless, but X disconnected one wire, hoping it was enough. He watched warily through the other wire, in case he should fail again.

It was the slowest revive he had done. Or maybe it only seemed slower because of who it was. Then there was a moment of pure magic when Axl opened his eyes. His central core was testing out who was on the other end of the wire. "Dad?"

"Axl!" X hugged him and started crying. He wasn't sure why, but moments later Axl was crying in his arms too. It didn't need to make sense.

A touch on his shoulder reminded him that Sigma was there. X recalled what he had said and felt scared. Axl noticed this and touched his hair. "Dad, what's wrong?"

X disconnected the other wire. It was for Axl's own good, he thought. But the last thing he wanted to do now was to give his son over to his hunters and never see him again. But Axl would be safer, better. "I…"

Axl took the tear off his face.

Sigma pushed him away. "You'd best run."

"What? But…"

"The Goddess is still in my system. She'll kill me in a short while. If you both are here, she will kill you as well. She has grown that powerful."

X nodded. "Thank you, for giving him back."

They teleported away, back home.

"You're a fool," the Goddess said sneeringly.

"He really does love him. In that case, I don't care."

* * *

A few days later, both of them were back at full operation. There were no visible scars from the encounter. But Axl was easily frightened by things he did not know and would not stray far from his father's side. X became nervous and tense, always checking the numbers on incoming calls. Neither of them had spoken of it, even to each other.

Zero came into X's personal office late in the afternoon. "What're you up to?"

"Thinking, mostly." He sketched in his design notebook with no particular idea in mind. "What about you?"

He shrugged. "Taking the occasional job here and there. My office has been awful quiet since Repliforce went down."

"Most of your clients were in there."

Zero smiled and nudged his shoulder. "You've gotten nervous lately. You've hardly relaxed for days."

"I am nervous."

"You wanna go out tonight? Reno says there's a party planned at Jumbles."

He shook his head. "No, I'd rather not."

"You don't want to? Come on, you're always up for a party."

X tapped his pencil on his desk. "I'd like to."

Zero sat on his desk. "Then why not?"

"I can't."

"What's wrong? Something is."

He made eye contact. "I nearly lost Axl because I stayed up all night to party and drink. I lost Blues for it. If I had just gotten back here on time to meet with them, it wouldn't have happened."

"It just happened that way."

"I touched his mind when he was dead."

This made Zero pause. "You did?"

"It was the only way to get him back." X felt himself crying again, but didn't care that someone was seeing it. "I can't continue on like this. I've been escaping reality ever since Doppler tore me apart. Or maybe even earlier. It hadn't occurred to me until I felt his silent mind that I was making things even worse by doing that. I have to stop. I have to, for Axl's sake. Or I'll just lose him again."

Zero wasn't sure how to respond to that. Eventually, he got up, shut the door, closed the blinds, then sat by X and was there quietly, thinking himself for most of the evening.


	39. Axl's Choice

X found a new psychotherapist, Dr. Sariso, and started attending AA meetings. Zero came to those meetings, realizing that perhaps X had the right idea. This caused some tension with the mechanics in the shop who did still drink and couldn't understand why the two of them were now getting away from it. Violet was very supportive to both of them, in hopes that X might change his mind about her as well. And when Axl was nine months old, X decided it was time to train him in weapons and his special armor.

They were in the house behind the shop. X gave Axl his helmet. "I know I promised it to you a long while ago, but now you're ready."

"Cool, thanks. How do I get it on?"

"Here, slip your ponytail into that slit. Then pull that shut and it should connect to your armor system so you can take it on and off like I do mine. There, that's perfect."

He played around for a bit, thinking it on and off. "I like it."

X smiled. "It gets even better. Now with your helmet attached, your special ability is now unlocked."

"I have a special ability?"

"Yes, but it's tricky and I decided to lock it initially. You are a shape shifter."

"Oh, like how Duraunger can shift his armor's color?"

He shook his head. "No, that's color shift camouflage. He can only alter the color and apparent texture of his armor. You, as a shape shifter, can completely change yourself into another reploid, provided you have seen that other and registered their appearance in your memory."

"Wow."

"And, if you study the reploid you wish to copy, you can also copy some of their abilities. Sort of like my weapon copy, only much better."

"So if I studied a flyer, I could fly too?"

"Right, but only when you're copying a flying reploid. But be careful with copying abilities. It takes up a lot of memory storage, so you may need to erase forms you don't use often. But once you get the hang of it, you barely have to think about it."

"Awesome. So how do I do it?"

"First of all, calm down. It is harder to do when excited."

Axl stood still for a moment. "Okay."

"Now, think of a reploid you know well, about how he or she looks. Just think about it and imagine their look in your mind. Close your eyes if it helps."

He did so and nodded.

"You also need to think of yourself. Of your own shell and how you look." He paused. "Once you can see both yourself and the other reploid in your mind clearly, put yourself into the other reploid's shell. Imagine changing yourself to their appearance."

Axl bit his lip and thought very hard. Then his shell turned completely silver, like molten steel. The liquid Axl made slight adjustments to his structure, locking in a new form. Once it was done, the liquid returned to solid, making color adjustments as well. He had turned himself into a smaller version of X, slightly smaller than Rock.

"And there you go."

Axl opened his eyes and saw that he was light blue now. "I did it!"

X smiled and rustled his hair. "You did great."

"But I'm still small. I can't look much like you if I'm this size."

"I'm afraid that's my fault. The metal that you're made of is liquid at room temperature."

"It is?" He looked at his hands. "So why am I not liquid?"

"You were for a moment when shifting. This alloy can be held in solid form by electrical stabilizers installed all over your body. Thus you can look like others by adjusting the metal in liquid state. But this alloy can be only made in laboratories. It's very expensive and made in small batches. So I only had enough to make you that size. But don't worry. I'm close to having enough for you to be adult sized."

Axl smiled. "So then I can really look like you, or anybody."

"Right. But you'd best stick to your base form most often. I mean, what you normally look like. If you just think that you want to be back to normal instead of looking like me, you'll return to base form."

He nodded, then returned to liquid form. He came out as his usual self. He glanced himself over again. "Okay, I see."

"You'll just need to practice with this."

"Sure, it'll be fun."

X put his finger to his lips. "Oh, but we need to do one last test before I let you just turn into anybody."

"What test?"

"I think I've got your hair done right so that it too can be altered to however it needs to be and still look like perfectly normal hair. And the best way to test that is to see if you can turn into Zero."

Axl laughed. "Okay, let me think about it."

He closed his eyes. It took longer than before as he was concentrating on getting it right. When he settled back into a solid, he was a perfect miniature of Zero.

X ran his fingers through the end of the blond ponytail before nodding in approval. "That's exactly it. You should have no problems copying anyone you wish."

"Great! I'm gonna go show Zero." He ran off to the shop.

X ran after him. "Hang on, I want to see his reaction too."

Axl entered the door, but on his father's signal, hung back in the hallway. X spotted Zero playing his guitar on some tires. He wasn't facing their way and most everyone else was busy. X gave him the signal to sneak over there as best he could.

Axl crept up on Zero. From the tilt of his head, X could tell Zero noticed him. But figuring it was Axl playing around, he played along and didn't turn. Axl was grinning by the time he got next to Zero. "Tag!" he called out as he tapped Zero's arm.

Zero smiled and with a playful threat replied, "How dare you tag… wah!" He stumbled off the tires and stepped back. "Who are you?"

"Got you!" Axl called out.

He recognized the voice, but couldn't understand the form. "Axl? But…"

X came out, laughing. "It is Axl. Go on and change back."

He did so. "See?"

"I gave him a shape shifting armor. Pretty cool, huh?"

"Pretty creepy," Zero replied. "That was really good. Shape shifting armor?"

"Much too expensive for the average reploid," X admitted. "But I managed it for him."

* * *

Things were quiet, which X was thankful for. He had so much to think about and figure out that he wouldn't be able to concentrate on battle. So nine months after unlocking Axl's abilities, he was able to gather enough of the alloy to give him his fully developed body. And four months after that, Axl had recovered enough from the kidnapping to remember his wish to be in the Maverick Hunters. He wasn't sure why his uncle had said to wait until X was in a good mood, but he did so anyways.

Axl was excited about the prospect all over again. He'd been reading up on the Maverick Hunter site about joining, what paths he could take, and making certain that he could request joining a squad if the leader knew him. By joining the group, he could be a hero, like his uncles. He climbed up to his father's office whistling, taking the chatter and laughing inside that office to mean this was a good time to ask.

But before he got up there, Forte raced into the shop and up the stairs. He paused by Axl. "Is your father around? I have to talk to him."

"I think he's in his office. I was just going up to see him."

"I hope he is." He ran up the rest of the way. Curious, Axl hurried up as well.

"X!" Forte called. "Good, you're here too Zero. I have to talk to both of you."

X smiled. "Chill down a bit. What's got you all worked up?"

Axl entered as Forte said, "The Eternal Clock is working."

Zero's eyes went wide. "I heard it strike one! But that was months ago."

"It struck one, then two, then three in quick succession. All within sixteen hours. Then it quieted off and I thought maybe I was imagining things. It happened during the Eurasia bit, so it was possible. But over the past few months, it's gone through three more hours. This world is doomed."

"Whoa, hold on," X said. "It can't be that bad. It crashed last time."

"But you know the chaos that crash caused. The Clock must be stopped before it reaches twelve."

"So why are you talking to me? I don't have a clue how this weapon works, or how to stop it. You and Rock stopped it last time."

Forte paused, then seemed puzzled. "You're right, I don't know why I'm telling you. I just felt I had to." Then he snapped his fingers. "That's it, I was going to tell you that you'd best repent before the Clock continues keeping time, or else you'll be doomed to hell. That was it."

X chuckled. "You didn't say that with your usual fever."

"Well I just realized you had already repented, so this was rather pointless, I guess. Sorry. But I do have to talk to you, Zero."

"All right," he replied. "We can go outside."

"Good."

"Well, thanks for thinking of me," X said. "I'm working on it."

"Oh, and one other thing. If you ever need me, come to the 9th Street Cathedral. That's where I'm going to be from now on."

"Don't you have to stop the Clock with Rock?"

"Yes, but I'm going to be at the Cathedral. If you need me."

X nodded. "Right, I'll remember that."

Axl stepped aside as Zero and Forte left the office. "What was that about, dad?"

"It's rather complicated and would require a long telling. But with Forte and Rock on the job, I wouldn't worry about it. They'll have the problem solved before long."

"That's true. I wanted to talk with you too. Nothing as weird as that."

"Sure, what's on your mind?"

He sat in one of the chairs. "Well, I've had on my mind for a while, and I've been looking into it a lot again… I want to join the Maverick Hunters. Uncle Proto told me all about it and I really want to do something great like him and Rock. And with the talents you've given me, I think I'll do really well and help everyone. What do you think about that?" Axl smiled, his enthusiasm shining in his eyes.

X, on the other hand, seemed stunned. "You want to join the Maverick Hunters?"

Axl lost the smile in his confusion. He'd imagined several reactions to this news, mostly supportive. But not stunned. "Yeah, I think it's the best place for me. Is there something wrong with that?"

He looked at his desk. "No, I guess not. It would be a good place for you, and if that's what you want, you should go after it."

"But there is something wrong. What is it?"

X met Axl's worried gaze. "There's nothing wrong with you wanting to join the Hunters. I'll support you if you do decide to go on that path. But there's a messy complication in that."

"Messy?"

"I'm a wanted Maverick."

Axl smiled again, but it wasn't completely confident. "But you always said that nickname was a joke, that it didn't mean anything."

"The truth is, I am one. As I hear it, there's a hefty reward on my head to the Hunter who brings me in, preferably alive. They want to put me on trial as a way of discouraging others from doing what I've done."

"But you're not bad."

X shook his head. "I used to be rather nasty. I never admitted it, but I was dangerous. Even Rock and Proto, even they knew I was dangerous. At least, I think so and I believe they were ignoring that fact as much as I was. But I have changed, I promise you that. I'm trying to change my ways. Perhaps if I go silent and don't do anything for several years, the Hunters will let my status slide. For now, they still consider me a dangerous Maverick, one that would love to get their hands on."

Axl looked down at his lap and his hands, which he was twisting together. "Dad, I, I couldn't fight you. If they want you that badly, I won't join them. But I really wanted to…"

"If you want to, do it. It's the right thing, far better than anything I've ever done."

"But how could I? You're my father, and if this puts us on opposite sides…"

"For one thing, I am your father, and I love you, so I will respect your wishes. For another, I've apparently got a reputation around the Hunters for being difficult. They won't be putting a green Hunter on my case. By the time you make it to the ranks they'll allow after me, hopefully I'll have reformed enough in their eyes to warrant a reprieve."

"So it's really all right if I join?"

"Of course, go right ahead. In fact, I was hoping you'd decide on a career soon. I'm shutting down the shop."

For a moment, Axl wasn't sure what stunned him more: learning his father was a Maverick or learning his father was shutting down the shop. "Why? You love this place, and I can't see you doing anything else."

X sighed and picked up a pen. This had obviously been a hard decision. "Axl… I really have changed recently. I used to know what I wanted and I didn't care what I had to do to get it. I used to hardly care about anything, unless it was fun or exciting. But that night in the desert will never leave me. That changed everything. However, while others would say I've improved, I don't know about that myself."

Axl put his hand on his father's. "That night is why I want to join the Hunters. I want to stop people like Dynamo from doing what they do."

X smiled. "I'm proud of you. It took me my whole life up to this point to learn something like that. But with all this change, I realized that I hardly know myself and what I really want. I used to want immediate pleasures and nothing else. But I can't have that anymore, so I have to figure myself out all over again."

"So you're shutting down the shop?"

He nodded. "All the guys… I still think of them as good guys. But they're still living the way I lived, and already the tension is wearing everyone thin. Also, I don't want the temptation to slip back so close. So I'm closing the shop down and taking a road trip with Zero. He, at least, has joined me in the change."

"He's the best friend anyone could have."

"I agree with you there. But he needs this too. So we're going elsewhere to figure out where our lives ought to go next. I'm keeping ownership of the shop, so maybe, just maybe if I figure things out and can return, I can put together a new crew and start over clean. So it's fine with me. You can join the Hunters and I'll slip off and try finding myself. Hopefully we won't be separated long."

Axl offered, and they shook hands. "All right. Don't get lost finding yourself."

X laughed, and Axl smiled. "I'll remember that."

* * *

Axl's training took a month. Tiger Lily was now in charge of Squad 16 and she was thrilled to have him join. And everyone was impressed with his skill sets. From the instant he started training, he was something of a rising star. Axl was the Maverick Hunter to watch.

But now, at his graduation ceremony, he could only think of one thing. His father. X couldn't be there to witness. X couldn't even be on Axl's records, so they had forged a false registration to match his real registration, only changing that Landon McKay, the quiet human, was Axl's creator, not X. Out of the whole crew, X trusted McKay most to take this role. Axl had a feeling that was because when X announced the shop would close, McKay said he was going to volunteer at a factory district as a healer. Factory reploids often had little income, so a mechanic healer at such a district would be lucky to break even.

Axl recited his oath with the other students. Many of them were fresh from the factory. Axl was young himself, yet he felt so much more experienced than the rest. And not one of them would be worried that his or her career in the Maverick Hunters may some day pit the Hunter against father.

Not a single one of them.


	40. The Beginnings of Things

Zero was playing Oceania under the stars. X was sleeping somewhere nearby. Space was getting fuzzy again, which is why he'd started playing. He needed his Angel.

Although they were in the middle of the woods, a clock struck nine.

"Is it time already?" Zero asked.

"Yes," a voice spoke from somewhere in the tree. Zero put Angel down. He knew he wouldn't find the speaker. "That time again."

"I don't feel like it's the right time," he responded. "We're making good progress, but things are still unsettled and uncertain. We need more time."

"You knew what role you were taking on when we started," the male voice reminded him. "And despite everything you tried, the Goddess has grown stronger than you. You won't be able to fight her off. Especially not since he perfected your shell."

"We both are trying to change," Zero protested, "and X has been going through some identity crisis as a result. Can't we wait until he settles down?"

"No, this is the perfect opportunity to destroy him. That's what the Goddess wants. That what you should want as well."

"Father, I've changed. I want to help him get through this."

"You can't. The Goddess has already found you."

"But I don't want this destiny…"

It was the last thing he said before the Goddess overwhelmed his mind.

She looked over to where X was sleeping. "I've got you now, child."

"Hold on," the voice in the woods said. "Not yet. It's only nine. Carry out the rest of your missions and wait."

"It would be much easier to destroy him at nine," she pointed out.

"Not at all. He will be protected until eleven. Then you may destroy him."

"Fine. I don't like this, but I'll do it." She stormed off through the woods.

Angel gathered dew until morning.

* * *

X woke up and didn't see Zero anywhere. Even his bike was missing. But Angel was on the ground. And he never left her alone.

He picked up the guitar and noticed a piece of paper in an accessory port. It was bound tightly and written on with tiny letters. X put a magnifier lens on his eyes and examined it.

'X, if you find this, the Goddess has overwhelmed me. Do not worry about me; worry about yourself. Find Forte and ask him how to reach the Eternal Clock before it strikes twelve. And take care of my Angel. She will help you when you need it, Zero.'

He wanted to believe this was some sort of joke. But X knew that Zero would not leave his guitar behind willingly, even on a prank. Still… find Forte about the Clock.

* * *

Rock was using watercolor paints to quickly capture the sunrise over the Great Lakes. He been practicing this for months and was getting the hang of it.

"Hey Rock," Zero called from behind him.

"Hang on a moment please," he responded. He knew by now that Zero was trustworthy and a good reploid, so he could watch. Rock finished up the picture. Pleased with the result, he showed it off. "What do you think?"

"That is really pretty."

"I have to work fast, to get everything right before it changes again. But it's worth the trouble."

"Can't you just take a photograph of the skies?"

He shook his head. "It's not the same, not to an artist. Did you want something?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I wanted to ask you a question. About X."

"I'm very proud of him. But aren't you two supposed to be off on a road trip? You've planned it for months."

"We got held back a few days. It's nothing important. What is important is something he was talking to me about and I'm not entirely sure I want to believe him about it. It's about how Dr. Light died."

"Oh, that. Well, he died on April 10th, and I can't seem to remember that day well. I do remember I saw Dr. Wily die that day. Me and Forte both."

"I've heard that end. But X was saying something about how he feels responsible for his death. But at the same time, he says he was nowhere near his father that day."

"He ran away on April 1st, despite the immense radiation saturating the air. If I remember right, on April 10th he was here in a Michigan shelter and nothing happened to him. He had nothing to do with how our father died."

"How did that happen?"

"It's very confusing. Dr. Wily's last weapon, the Eternal Clock, crashed so everyone in that area was affected. Forte was the Oracle of the Eternal Clock, so he was able to pull himself, you, and I out of the implosion. The Light Laboratories weren't near the Eternal Clock site. However, the Clock reached all the way over there and aged everything in the area by five hundred years. So dad died of extreme aging. He was probably Wily's first target."

"So why does X feel responsible for Light's death?"

Rock paused. "It's a rather sad story. I'm not sure X would want me to tell you about it without him knowing."

"I know some of it. He tells me he and Light argued a lot and in the last argument, Light threatened to dump his programming, then disowned him, causing X to run off. But the chain of events he tells, I'm not sure I believe it. It doesn't match up."

"Oh. Well, in that case, I guess I can tell what I know. But just keep in mind, this is back when I had a closed mind and it does affect how I remember things."

"I know. I've talked to my brother about things like that too."

"Good. It all started with the Mary Lou, even though it occurred a year before the Cataclysm."

"He's told me about that mission. How he disarmed the primary fuses and missed a secondary set."

"Yeah, that blew three hours later. We were outside when it happened. Father's labs were one of the few places in our area rated for nuclear fallout, so we had to be out there guiding people in, even Thomas. That's important."

"Okay."

"Everything was fine for two months. Then X started getting irritable and moody. We weren't sure what was wrong with him. Every time we asked, he'd lose his temper or avoid the question, depending on who it was. Then seven months into the fallout period, Roll was kidnapped by aliens."

"So that's true? How do you know it was aliens?"

"It's on the security tapes. They have three eyes and red skin."

"Why'd they kidnap her?"

"They wanted her for an intergalactic representative for our planet in this pre-Union state. So she said when she visited a few years back."

"Err… okay."

"Roll was keeping things mostly peaceful, since she was programmed with diplomatic talents. Once she was gone, X and Light were arguing every day. I know that by this point, he was drinking. I think it was some of the refugees that introduced him to alcohol. Certainly our father wouldn't have."

"I can't see that happening either."

"In early March, X committed suicide."

"He did what?"

"He tried to kill himself. Father didn't think it was suicide and repaired him. It was at that point that Proto and I learned that Dr. Light was suffering from leukemia. Our lab wasn't prepared to take care of a cancer patient."

"Leukemia… from the nuclear fallout, right?"

"Right, from when we were helping others to safety. It seems X blamed himself for that because he failed to stop the bombs from exploding. But he didn't die from the leukemia, even though he was suffering badly by that April. X found out about it way before the rest of us did, I think because he was born as a reploid and could figure it out. Thus, X didn't kill Dr. Light, but he blames himself anyways."

"I see. So everything he's going through now is because of what happened then. He's been trying to forget about it… but he's been doing that by going maverick?"

"I think it's a case of he figured he was damned as it was so it didn't matter what he did. Or he was searching for pleasure in his depression, found it in the wrong places, which caused him to suffer more guilt, which only drew him further into darkness. I've kept to my honor, so I don't fully understand what he's going through."

Zero nodded. "I think I get it now. Thanks. I'll have to talk to him about it."

"Please tell him father's death wasn't his fault, or even the leukemia. The professional bomb crew that came in after X didn't even find that secondary trigger until seconds before the blast. Once he accepts that, I think it will be much smoother for him."

"Sure. So what are you doing today?"

"Me? I'm meeting with Forte to play on the Battle Network today. We've been doing this every week for several years now." Actually, the truth was that he and Forte were working on the Eternal Clock mystery. Why was it now active, and who activated it? Most importantly, could it be shut down again?

"Sounds nice, but I don't think you'll find him."

"Why not?"

"Let's just say I know certain things."

Rock looked puzzled. "Zero?"

He activated his saber. "Good night sweet Rock."

* * *

Forte had said if X ever needed him, he would be at the 9th Street Cathedral. And he was there. It was a strange sight to see. Forte was flying about five feet off the ground, but not with Gospel's help. It had been decades since either Gospel or Rush had been active. Forte was flying with wings of black fire.

"Burning with passion I see," he teased.

"Not exactly," Forte responded. "Have you heard? The Clock has struck nine."

"I dreamed of a clock striking nine," he admitted.

"Someone has reactivated the Eternal Clock. I've been growing stronger with every tolling, but I don't like this."

"You say you are the Oracle, right?"

"Yes, I am."

"So you can see what's going on?"

He shook his head. "It's only struck nine. When it strikes twelve, I will be able to connect to all of Time and Space. Then I will be able to answer any question put to me. But for now I can only see certain things. Your brother is dead."

"I know. That was some time ago."

"No, I mean Rock. He died shortly after sunrise."

"Rock? But who would kill him?"

Forte paused. "I'm not getting a clear image. But I sense it's a female with an evil nature. I think it's highly probable it was the Goddess."

"Zero's disappeared," X said. "He left Angel behind."

Forte turned to him. "That is an ill tiding. If you don't mind, may I see Angel?"

X pulled it off his back. "Be careful. You know how he feels about her."

"Of course." Forte strummed it, sending echoes bouncing off the walls. "This was all you found of his?"

"He left a note telling me to find you. He says you'll help me find the way to the Eternal Clock before it strikes twelve. And that the Goddess has probably overwhelmed him."

"I don't like the feel of this. Let me see if I can get a vision off Angel without getting backlash from the Clock."

"All right."

Forte wasn't a musician like his brother, so his randomly plucked strings made no songs. But it seemed to help him think. "To Dr. Wily, Zero and I were weapons of war, not individuals worthy of our own wills. He didn't care about us, only results. So when he planned on sacrificing me to gain complete control of Time and Space, Zero disobeyed him and saved me. As a result, the Eternal Clock crashed. In doing that, we were able to escape our programming and his control, although he continued to haunt us for years. But Zero had that control program, which eventually became the Goddess. I had no such thing. She has grown to have more spiritual power than he. He didn't stand a chance when she found him last night. You will come upon what seems to be Zero. But remember, he is no longer in control. The Goddess is. You will have to fight her."

"I see."

"He has given you his Angel. Objects can obtain spiritual power if they are treasured for years. I'm not sure what she can do, but your best bet is to keep her with you."

"How about getting to the Eternal Clock?"

"To shatter the Eternal Clock and stop Absolute Fate from coming to being… that will be a strange journey. You must find the Gatekeeper, who will allow you to pass out of normal Reality into the space where the Eternal Clock is kept. You must find the one who holds the Shield Key that locks the Clock's shield. Lastly, you must find someone who is willing to speak for you."

"Speak for me?"

Forte nodded. "If you shatter the Clock, it will attempt to destroy you completely from all Time. Zero and I found that out the hard way. I spoke for him and allowed him to survive the crash. You will need to find someone to do that for you." He thought. "It is why the Goddess wants Rock dead. He was at the Clock when it crashed. As a robot, he got through the whole mess with little mental damage, unlike my brother and myself. So he would remember the way if reminded of the Gatekeeper and the Shield Key."

"So where do I find all three of these people?"

"I'm searching… the Gatekeeper will be easiest to find. He is waiting for you at the shores of Lake Ontario. He should be able to tell you who holds the Shield Key. As for someone to speak for you, you'll have to figure that out on your own. Angel won't tell me any more." He handed Zero's guitar back.

X took it and strapped it back on. "Well, thanks for that information. Are you going to be all right during this?"

"No," he said bluntly. "The Eternal Clock gives me horrible visions. Ever since it started tolling over a year ago, I've had nothing but nightmares. I won't be back to normal until the Clock is silent again. I'm staying here. If I try to fight the Clock, it will recall and destroy me."

"I see. By the way, do you know today's date?"

He shook his head. "You know my internal clock is hooked up to the Clock, so I can't tell time as the rest of you do."

"It's April 10th."

"That date…" he bowed his head. "Good luck X."


	41. The Truth Behind Monsters

"Okay Axl, your target is within these grounds," Alia reported over the com. "This is a dangerous mission, so be on your guard."

"Roger." Axl climbed over the fence and into the lot. It was late at night here, in an old factory complex. Floodlights casting a bluish-green tinted light made the central area bright, but left the nooks and crannies pitch black. He searched for and found the maverick's signal. Axl ran through the lot. Despite the danger warning, it was very quiet here. Too quiet.

"(fizz) having difficulty keeping contact (fizz) you read?"

He paused. "Alia, you're breaking up," he whispered.

"Take care Axl, something's (fizz)(crackle)."

Axl cut the com channel. So he was on his own. It didn't bother him. He was trying to prove himself to his uncle's squad, and this may be the way. He continued tracking the maverick's signal.

It led him down a dark side path, lit only by one floodlight near a door with some stairs. At the end, he could see a shadowy figure, unidentifiable. Axl didn't want to go into the fight blind and ignorant, so he shifted to stealth mode. Stealth mode was one of his father's special inventions for him; no other reploid had a system like it in the world. Under it, he could silently and invisibly move about; other reploids had invisibility modes, but only Axl could attack while in stealth mode. The sound of his pistols would give him away, but first strike was a good thing to have.

He was supposed to be unnoticeable, but the shadowy figure noticed as he came down the side path. "Axl."

Axl froze. "D-dad?"

X came into the floodlight and it was unmistakably him. "So you did come."

"I… I don't want to fight you."

His father was eerily calm as he spoke. "Axl, you can have anything you desire. You can have a hero's glory; you can have the respect of all your peers. All you have to do is kill me."

Axl's systems seemed to freeze with horror as he realized that was the honest truth. That only got worse when he found himself raising his pistols for a lethal shot. Axl tried to will them down, but they seemed to have a mind of their own.

X closed his eyes and held out his hands. "I give my life for yours."

Axl fired. "No, I don't want this!"

Axl woke up, gasping for breath. He was in his bunk; it was dark. Axl fumbled around on his nightstand until he found two halves of a walnut shell connected by a thick string. He gripped his mystic amulets to his chest and sighed in relief. "Just a dream…"

He tied the walnut shell to his hair as he did every morning. Other people thought it was odd, but his soul had once resided in this shell. X had said keeping it would bring good luck and protection. Then he paused, wondering when his alarm clock would go off. His Squad was expected to do an early morning shift. But his clock read 07:14.

He was late! Why hadn't anyone come to check on him? He got up, grabbed his pistols, and adjusted his armor. Then he left his room and headed for the squad den.

Axl's face felt flushed and he expected to be scolded. But as he hurried along the halls, he got the eerie feeling that no one was there. He hadn't run into anyone. And normally the intercom system was rattling off orders and requests every few minutes. He heard not a one the whole way.

He opened the den's door. "Sorry I'm… late…"

No one was in there.

He walked over to the IC to check for open mission data. That was a likely explanation. The display showed that there were no missions open for any Hunter at the moment.

"Weird," he whispered. He left the den and began searching nearby rooms, including other squads' dens. No one here. No one there. No one here again. Absolutely no one.

He found his way to the command center. Here he hesitated. He wasn't ranked high enough to go in yet, but he was running out of places to search. He approached the door, expecting it to do nothing as usual.

It opened for him.

Axl walked around the command center, looking at the various operator stations that were responsible for coordinating teleports, linking to satellite cameras, researching databanks, communicating with other organizations, and many other vital mission tasks. But every single one was on standby with no operator. He was the only one there.

He went up to one of the operator stations and examined it. His father had an IC like this, so he could figure out how to work it. With some fiddling about, he brought up a map of the Hunter base and searched for anyone else. It registered one other reploid on base, but could not identify the one. He or she was located in the cafeteria.

Axl shut down his search window, then left for the cafeteria. Pausing before entering, he checked in the door window. He knew this reploid. It was Dynamo.

He still had nightmares of that Saharan Desert with the ancient pyramids. Sigma had left him alone with Dynamo. He had been the Prophet of the Goddess so long that he seemed to have no will of his own, only the will of the Goddess. And she was not pleased with Axl's very existence. Sigma wanted to keep him alive for use as a hostage. Dynamo wanted him dead. So after several hours of torture, Dynamo killed Axl. Only X's persistence and timing saved him.

But now Axl was a Maverick Hunter. He was armed, his armor was better, and his ability was very useful. He could take on Dynamo. Maybe.

Axl entered the cafeteria with his pistols at ready. He noticed one thing immediately; Dynamo was drunk. An empty bottle of whisky was on the table, a half-filled one was in his hands. A number of the tables were damaged. Axl felt like leaving for a moment, but pulled together his courage and called out, "What are you doing here, Dynamo?"

"She said I was a ****** art thief," then he hiccupped, "and nothing more."

"What?"

"Dammit, I was her ******* prophet and then she calls me a ****** art thief and a worthless piece of ****. And she leaves me for some ******* destiny with some ******* Absolute Fate. I did everything for the Goddess; I did what I thought she wanted. Hell, she told me to beat the **** out of that kid, and then she says I ******* messed up. What the hell did I do wrong? He was ******* dead when I left."

"The Goddess wanted me dead? I mean, uh, you beat up a kid on her orders?"

Dynamo looked up, blinked, then stared. "You? You're alive? How the ****** hell did you survive?"

"What's going on here? Why are you here and nobody else?"

He got up. "That's because…" he stumbled, then leaned on the table. "That's because the world is shifting. The Goddess is going to become Absolute Fate. It will be a dream come true, a real paradise. The will of the Goddess will become the will of everyone, the will of Fate. Everything will be chosen for you, correctly, in accordance with the will of the Goddess. Nothing will ever go wrong because everything will be chosen right. It will be true peace and prosperity!"

"But what about free will? Dad says that's the most important gift in the world."

"Your **** ******* father doesn't know what he's talking about. Free will is why everything's so ****** up. The Goddess is the wisest being in the universe. With her making every decision, nothing will go wrong. If you want free will, then you automatically chose death. And now that I told you, how the hell are you here talking to me when you should be dead twice over?"

"My father saved me."

Dynamo withdrew a red bladed weapon. "But he isn't here to save you now. I'm going to make sure you ******* stay dead this time."

Axl easily stepped out of his initial attack. "Idiot, you're drunk out of your senses. I'm not going to fight you like this." He started out the door.

"No! If you're going to be like that…"

Axl turned back, to throw a snappy comeback at him. But then he saw a red aura gather around Dynamo. That was familiar, in a bad way.

Dynamo gripped a golden key around his neck as if it were a set of prayer beads. "Goddess, come back to me now. My body is yours, my mind is yours, my soul is yours. Grant me the power and I swear on this Shield Key that I will destroy this insolent child once and for all." The red aura turned into vivid bloody flames.

For a moment, Axl was afraid again. He ran out the cafeteria doors and down the hall. But when he reached a pair of hall doors and went through, he wound up back in the cafeteria. The red aura was gone, but Dynamo was clearly sober.

"Foolish child. You cannot outrun Absolute Fate. Now bend to the will of the Goddess!"

"I never will!"

"Then you will die painfully."

He started off with a lightning attack, one that Axl was uncomfortably familiar with. But he could dodge it now. His father had not given him a buster arm like his own, claiming it wasn't the most efficient setup. Instead, Axl had a pair of pistols that he formed out of his special alloy, so that no matter who he looked like, the pistols seemed to belong. Using a table for cover, he fired at Dynamo's head. But the prophet was fast.

Dynamo gave up on the electrical attack and threw his blade like a boomerang. Axl got out of the way in time. The bladed boomerang crashed into a shelf, dumping everything on it onto the floor. Including Tiger Lily's bladed flicka ball.

Normally, she kept that in her own quarters, but he'd seen her use it a few times. Her armband controlled it. Well, it was here and his pistols weren't hitting. He turned himself into Tiger Lily.

Dynamo looked confused. "What in hell did you do to the kid?"

The flicka turned on to Axl's command. Good. "I am the kid." He threw the flicka at Dynamo. The initial flyby grazed him, leaving a two-inch gash down his right side. The flicka kept going, though the walls of the cafeteria and several other rooms before returning. This time, the flicka hit Dynamo in his waist, cutting off his lower body. He screamed like a girl.

Axl returned to his base form. A concentrated thought reformed the armband to keep control of the flicka. He pointed his pistols at Dynamo. "Where is the Goddess?"

"She has returned to her proper Avatar," Dynamo said. "Even if you make it to the Eternal Clock, it is too late. It has tolled ten already."

Axl knelt down, still aiming with one pistol, and pulled the Shield Key off his neck. "This will let me into the Clock."

"You don't know how to use it."

"Then tell me."

Dynamo snatched Axl's pistol. "No!" He fired. "I won't betray my Goddess…"


	42. In Which Reality Dies

X took his meta-bike up to Lake Ontario. Morning traffic was heavy in places. He was considering activating the flight module and zipping above everyone when he felt a chill in his systems. The Eternal Clock, he thought.

It began to toll. X watched the roadway shiver and flicker. With every tolling, cars disappeared from the road. When it ended at ten, he was the only one there.

It is April 10th, the day that never was, he thought. He took off at full speed for the Great Lakes.

Once there, he examined the shoreline. But everyone seemed to have disappeared with the tolling of ten. He wondered if the same sort of thing happened fifty years ago. Then he began to spot stranger things.

They looked like half built reploids with purple double helix tentacles, only hovering in the air. They were hanging around the shoreline and out on the lake's surface. At first he only spotted one or two hanging about. As he went on, their numbers increased. But they didn't notice him.

They also didn't notice the one person out on the shoreline today. X spotted him working on a small sailboat with a lantern and a flag on it. The flag had some sort of symbol on it, like a twisted Greek sigma, but he didn't recognize the meaning. He parked his bike and walked up to this purple haired reploid. "Are you the Gatekeeper?"

He also had purple eyes. "Yes. My name is Gate. And you would be?"

"Rockman X."

Gate stood up. "Well, let me see." He pulled out a mIC and checked a list. "Yes, you are on the list. Why are you looking for me?"

"I need to get to the Eternal Clock before it strikes twelve."

"And it just struck ten. That can be done. My boat is seaworthy." He looked over the water, which was still. "The lake appears calm, but under the surface, it is restless. This won't be an easy passage."

"I'm still going, no matter what you say."

"I won't stop you. Come on board. I hope you can handle a shift in reality."

X got in and Gate raised his sails. They too had the strange symbol on it. X was looking at it, trying to identify the symbol when he heard a crackle behind him. He glanced at the lantern that he had sat by. There was a floating ball of fire in it. But closer examination showed it had clear eyes and a gaping mouth. At least, it was a gaping mouth for a creature only the size of a baseball.

Gate pushed the boat away from shore with a paddle until the wind caught the sail. It was a gentle wind, so they weren't going fast. "Go ahead and speak with me," he said. "Otherwise I might lose you to the sea and you'll have to swim to the other shore. It's happened before."

"With Zero?"

"Zero? Oh, yes, blond fellow. That was the roughest passage I've ever made. Fifty foot waves and horrible lightning. Nothing could have kept him safe once we hit the crossroads. I spent a long time looking for him and a fish nearly ate him. And there's been others lost that I've yet to find."

"Do you know where I can find the Shield Key?"

"That elusive thing. It gets lost so often even I have trouble keeping track of it. Let me check my notes." He kept one hand on the rudder and used the other to check his mIC. "There we are. The last known person to have it was Dynamo."

"He's still around?"

"Yes, he's a very lucky individual. But he's been hanging around High Max lately, so if you intend on confronting one, you'll likely confront both."

"Who's High Max?"

"A transdimensional being. He comes and he goes. I give him passage on occasion, but he's never an interesting conversationalist. Has a one track mind."

"Transdimensional?"

"Yes. There are many parallel worlds and histories. I've had the misfortune of getting caught between worlds and transgressing the laws of heaven. But it wasn't a major transgression, so I was given this job. To slide between realities and worlds. I'm not allowed to judge whoever comes and why. I simply have to take everyone that appears on my list."

"I see. And what's this thing?"

Gate smiled. "That little creature behind you, in the lantern? It is known as a Bomb. It got lost in a madman's attempt to destroy one world and I found it wandering the seas. It does a magnificent job lighting my way, but it is a fierce monster if allowed out of its cage. For some reason, it is perfectly happy being caged up. It has lost its home world, but as a mere animal, it cannot find its way back. So I keep it as a pet."

The Bomb crackled, and indeed looked rather happy. "What about the other creatures? Those flying squid-human things that are following us."

He looked over to where they were floating alongside the sailboat, rather like dolphins near an ocean vessel. "Those things? They're called Nightmares. They're harmless if you approach them whole. But if a reploid approaches them injured, they attack. They only attack injured reploids and I'm not sure why. Of course, they also seem to follow me everywhere and I'm not sure why that is either."

"So you're followed by strange things that prey on weak reploids?"

Gate shrugged. "You ever get the feeling that you're in the wrong place and time? That you're in some story, but it's not yours and you're here by will of some different mind? I feel like that all the time, as if I'm not quite right or I don't fit into any of the worlds I visit. I think that someday I will find my home world again and I'll know why those Nightmares keep following me and why I'm sailing this boat between worlds."

"But you said it's your punishment."

"Yes, but I don't know what I'm being punished for. I think it has something to do with that symbol."

"And you don't have any idea of what it is?"

"Oh, I know what it is. It is the sign of Sigma."

"Sigma? The former head of the Maverick Hunters? But I've never seen that symbol before and he wanted me dead."

"That's right." Then Gate looked confused and shook his head. "Darn, I almost remembered, but it disappeared from me again. Yes, that is the sign of Sigma, but I don't think it's from your world. Hang on, we're at the crossroads."

X looked ahead, but all he could see was Lake Ontario for miles around. "We're in the middle of the lake."

"You can't see where Reality breaks down until it hits you."

For a moment, it stayed normal. Then the entire lake shifted. The water surface went from calmly horizontal to almost straight down. "Whoa!"

"Hang on and keep talking. I've done this enough times to get you through."

Lightning clamored in the skies and the winds howled mercilessly. The sailboat went from calm slow sailing to wild spinning. "Is it always this stormy?"

"It's a little more agitated than usual," Gate said calmly. "But I've seen much worse. Keep your wits about; we're going to hit witchfire shortly."

"Witchfire?"

They hit a crest and dove back down. At the trough of this wave there was a mass of black flames, similar to Forte's Oracle wings. Falling into the witchfire made X feel cold, damp, and dizzy. He almost lost feeling in his hands when he heard Gate again.

"Yes, witchfire. You know the effects now. This is a pure magic substance that leaks out from highly mystical worlds. Your world is only a little mystical, so there can be Oracles, prophets, and small tricks, but not much more. There are worlds out there where the native beings cannot live without magic. Worlds where magic is so dense, flight can be accomplished merely by wishing hard enough. In those worlds, witchfire is as common as water."

"But it can't burn things. It's too cold."

"Oh, it can burn things. But this boat is protected from such fires, and thus anyone in the boat as well. And it doesn't seem to afflict the Nightmares."

"Fire that's not fire…" Zero occasionally mentioned that phrase when he was functioning poorly.

"Exactly."

"Then what is this place?"

"This is the Sea of Primal Chaos. There's no order to this place. Any order that you do see is your mind attempting to translate Chaos in its purest form. It's one of the ways between worlds and realities."

"So the Eternal Clock is not in my world, but in another?"

"No. The Eternal Clock is in Unreal Space. This is one area of Unreal Space. The Eternal Clock is located in a pocket of pure Order."

"Pure Order?"

"Yes, the absolute opposite of this place. Pure Order is no better than Pure Chaos. It allows for no free will. Someone who tries to operate the Eternal Clock is trying to gain Absolute Fate for one world. At least, no one has succeeded in forcing Absolute Fate on multiple worlds."

"Dr. Wily made that."

Gate shook his head. "No one made the Eternal Clock. It simply is. But various people, including Dr. Wily of your world, have found ways to the Eternal Clock in hopes of gaining absolute power in the form of Absolute Fate. That power banishes Chaos completely from one world."

"So what happens if Chaos is banished?"

"Both Chaos and Order are necessary to life, no matter which world it is. A world afflicted by Absolute Fate generally ceases to exist."

"Ceases to exist… and people try to control this Clock?"

"They try. The ability to have history go your way is a great temptation."

"It would be. But I'm going to stop it from doing that."

"Good luck in that. There are a lot of safeguards. But the Eternal Clock is broken most of the time, so it must be possible. Otherwise, there would be a lot more dead worlds out there. Hang on, we're almost through this area."

"Are we going into the pocket of Pure Order?"

"No, you can't do that from here. When you get out, you need to find the one with the Shield Key, Dynamo. You will emerge in a chaotic form of your world. The Eternal Clock is breaking down that reality as we speak. My job is to keep you out of the breaking down. Certain others will make their way through it with or without help. When you have the Shield Key, use it on any door. It will open into the Eternal Clock."

"All right."

"The passage back is the worst part. Hold onto the Bomb's cage and don't let go for anything until we're through. And you might want to not speak."

The Bomb crackled as X got a better hold of its cage. He was hearing a gentle dripping of water, but considering this was a place of Chaos, he didn't think he could trust that. They came up to what appeared to be a slight drop. But when the boat started tipping downward, X could see that it led to a large waterfall. They rushed down the wall of water. It seemed as if they would wreck on the surface of the lake below. Instead, the lake turned into a curtain of water where they entered a dark tunnel.

The Bomb obediently grew brighter and cast its light out to the walls. X looked at the walls and his memories were playing on them in no particular order. He tried to close his eyes, but for some reason could not stop watching.

The Nightmares kept pace easily, surrounding Gate's boat. They all drew closer on some silent signal. Almost immediately after, X was blinded by strong sunlight.

"You still here?" Gate said.

"Yes, I am."

"Oh good. I lose more people leaving the Sea then actually on it. I get blinded once I find the gateway."

His sight corrected itself and he found the boat back on Lake Ontario, headed back to the shore they had started on. X's meta-bike was still parked on the lot. Only, it had returned to the rust bucket stage it had started in when X acquired it. And there was a building in the middle of the road that definitely hadn't been there before.

"This reality is breaking down?"

"It has to be," Gate explained as he brought the boat to shore. "To gain Absolute Fate, history has to be rewritten to the will of the operator. It leads to a period of Chaos before Order fully takes over. It will correct itself once the Eternal Clock is shut down."

"Okay. Thank you. Do I need to pay you or something?"

Gate shook his head. "No. This job is not permanent. With every person I get successfully transported, I get closer to my day of freedom. That is enough."


	43. Unavoidable Conflict?

Axl now had a key. But he didn't know what shield it went to, or what the Eternal Clock even was. So he continued to search the base for any clues.

As Dynamo had said, time and space were being messed with everywhere he went. Every clock he saw was running fast, slow, or backwards. Even his internal timekeeper was going berserk. Rooms rearranged themselves. He found a bathroom where a security station should have been. He found the cafeteria again through a closet door. He opened the gymnasium doors and found elegant wood floors, marble tiled walls, and exotic décor.

He looked in confusion. There wasn't a single area on base with any of those features. He stepped through and heard singing. Glancing back, he no longer saw the base, but more of this mansion. Assuming it was that. He followed the song.

For a moment, he thought the singer was Iris, but her colors were off, green and blue instead of red and purple. And she was singing a song that he didn't think was right. "Hey," he said.

She turned and smiled pleasantly. "Oh, hello there. What're you doing?"

"I'm trying to figure out what's going on. I was on a space station."

She giggled. "Welcome back to Earth! I'm making a safety zone from all the evil going-ons. I'm Bluebell."

"I'm Axl. Do you know about this Eternal Clock?"

"No, but can't you just feel it? The dark foreboding that we're all about to be annihilated because someone who hates reploids is aspiring to be Fate?"

"Not that exact feeling. But I don't like this."

Bluebell put a finger to her lips, thinking. "There's a strange aura around you, Axl. Have you picked anything up since reality began breaking down?"

He nodded. "It's called a Shield Key, but I don't know what it's for."

She tapped her chin when he brought it out. "Well, it's not evil. But it is strange. I know! I'll give you a card fortune. That'll help you."

"A card fortune?"

"Yup, I'm a witch. Come on, come on. Sit down. I'll go find my tarot deck."

Axl watched as Bluebell happily shuffled her cards and began laying them out. "I didn't think tarot worked."

"Not for most people, but I'm psychic. Always have been, even if no one believed me. Reploids are so used to the logical and the explainable that the unexplainable and the paranormal are baffling to them. So most chose to ignore it, or try to explain it in ways that don't work. But it's all real; it's all there. Then, now… a reading to see what your near future holds with the Shield Key."

She flipped them. Some were upside down, some not, some were readily explainable (like the Fate card) and some weren't (like the Chariot).

"Not exactly a nice fortune."

"What is it?"

"You have the Shield Key. You can go in and stop the Eternal Clock once you find a door with a keyhole."

"But which door?"

"Any door will do, so long as it has a keyhole. However, before you find a keyhole, you will find someone else looking for the Shield Key. Your father."

"Well, that's good. We could work together on it."

Bluebell shook her head and pointed to the upside down Chariot and the Five of Swords next to the Five of Hearts. "The cards say that your meeting will be confrontational. You'll have to fight your father."

"But dad wouldn't hurt me. And I wouldn't hurt him."

"So you think. He treated you well and behaved in your presence, but that's not his true nature. He also deeply resents something you chose to do against his will."

"But he said he was changing. He said he didn't mind me joining the Hunters."

"Is X your father?"

"Yes."

"Oh, I've dealt with him before. What he says, what he does, and what he thinks are all different things. He's a professional liar."

"No."

"Come on. He killed all my brothers, claiming self-defense, when he purposely chased Stingray, tracked down Peacock, and hunted down Colonel. He caused his father much suffering. I've spoke to your grandfather's ghost before. Your father is trouble."

Axl's eyes were stinging. "But he loved me…"

"When you were his son. Now that you're your own person, he feels differently. Especially since you joined the Maverick Hunters."

"If he's looking for the key, he must want to stop the Clock. He's changing from what he was."

Bluebell shook her head and pointed to another pair of cards. The Goddess and the Devil. "He's drawing on dark forces to find the key. He used a path of Chaos and Nightmares. You see, if he finds the Key, opens the path, then defeats the one who is repairing the Eternal Clock, he can overtake the Clock and use its powers for his own purposes. It seems your father," she pointed to Five of Hearts, "intends on becoming Fate," she pointed to the Fate card. "And who knows what he intends to do from there. Fate by any means is evil. Even though the current seeker intends on destroying reploids, I'm not sure I want X in charge of Fate either."

"He hates people who control him… no, he always told me that free will was sacred, that I should treasure my being such. He wouldn't… try to become Fate."

"That was when he had control over you. Now he doesn't."

Axl stood up. "I don't believe you!"

Bluebell shrugged. "Fine then. You and I got this far because we have holy auras. But just ask your father how he got through. You'll see."

"It's not true." He left the room.

Bluebell crossed her arms. "Okay sis, I did it. Now leave me alone!"

* * *

With his bike out of commission, there was only one place to go. It looked like a warehouse; a plain simple building with no signage, no frills, few windows. X opened the door and walked in. And inside, it looked like a warehouse. Big, open, gray, empty, but with a spotless concrete floor. The only thing in it was an electronic door in the middle of the room.

X went to investigate the door, but it opened before he got there. Axl came through in a hurry, looking a bit upset. "Hey Axl, you're okay."

He looked startled and backed up. The door behind him tipped over and crashed, making him jump forward. "Oh, hi dad."

"What's making you so jumpy?"

He said it with enough concern to make Axl forget about Bluebell's fortune. "This day has been so strange. I got up late and found that everyone on base was gone. Except for Dynamo. I fought him."

"Are you okay?"

"I beat him. I'm all right."

"Great. Did you happen to find a key on him? I was told he had a Shield Key."

On the other hand, she might have been right. "Yes, I have it… what's happened to you? Do you know what's going on?"

X nodded. "Somebody's taken control of a weapon called the Eternal Clock. It will grant that person absolute control over Fate. However, it could completely delete our world afterwards. I need the Shield Key to open the way to the Clock, so I can stop it from happening."

Axl had to make sure. "Dynamo said something like that, but I didn't understand. How did you escape the snatching of everyone else?"

"This is going to sound really weird, and it is, but I sailed out to the Sea of Primal Chaos with a Gatekeeper who's followed around by Nightmares. It was a stormy passage, but I had to do it. Would you give me the key? This is a dangerous task. You can join me, I guess, but I'd rather you find somewhere safe. Like a church."

She was right? Axl felt as if his worst nightmare had come true. He loved his father but… he wasn't who he appeared to be.

X stepped forward.

Axl drew his pistols. "No, I can't give it to you."

"This is very important. We need to stop the Clock before it erases everything."

"You aren't who you said you were," Axl said. "I'll go stop the Clock."

Why was Axl being this way? X felt puzzled, but mostly hurt. "What is it, you can't trust me? I can handle this."

"And I can't?"

"No, I'm sure you could, but,"

"I'll do it. D…Don't make me shoot you."

But he had to do this. Zero was in trouble in some way connected to the Clock. "Axl, I'm going to stop that Clock. And I need the Shield Key to do it."

"I won't let you have it."

The standoff lasted a few seconds. Neither wanted to make the first shot.

"X, Axl, don't do it!"

Both turned to see Violet come through an old wooden door that also crashed to the ground once she walked through. Axl put his pistols down. X asked, "Violet, what are you doing here?"

"Getting here in time, I suppose." She looked between them. "You two aren't supposed to be fighting. What's going on?"

"I'm trying to stop the Eternal Clock," X said.

"Me too," Axl said quietly.

"So why are you two fighting each other?"

"I'm trying not to."

Axl looked at the floor. "You weren't?"

"Of course not. Why would I want to fight you?"

"But… but you came here on a path of chaos and nightmares…"

"Forte sent me that way in hopes that I could help Zero, who's been overtaken by the Goddess. Otherwise the Eternal Clock would have taken me out as soon as it could."

"Zero's in trouble?"

"Yes. I knew he was the Goddess, but thought she was disconnected from him."

Violet turned to Axl. "Where did you get that path of chaos and nightmares idea?"

"I was trying to figure out what was going on and I ran into this girl who claimed to be a witch. Bluebell. She reminded me of Iris, but she was nicer and offered me a card reading that said if dad had followed that path, we would be drawn to a fatal confrontation…"

"So you were defensive around me."

"Bluebell's crazy," Violet said. "She's one of my other sisters and she may have a grudge against X, given what happened."

"I'm sorry dad," Axl said. "I was afraid of this ever since you told me… and today's been so strange anyways. This whole mess is awful!"

X felt like snapping at Axl for thinking that and nearly starting a fight. But no… he'd made that mistake before with Dr. Light and had suffered silently for decades. He held his temper back and hugged Axl. "I understand. And I'm sorry I made you feel like that. I've done a lot of stupid things, but not until recently have I realized the full consequences of my actions."

"I knew I should have trusted you." He pulled out the Shield Key. "I'll give it to you, but I'm coming. Zero's my friend too."

"Sure. We'll go stop the Clock and get him out of this twisted destiny. And thank you Violet."

Axl smiled. "Yeah, a lot."

She blushed. "I was just worried about you both, when everything went crazy. Somehow I knew you'd be involved and I just got this horrible sick feeling that something very bad would happen if I didn't come looking…"

"Maybe you share your sister's psychic gift," Axl joked.

"I'm glad you did come, but this will get dangerous. I don't know where will be safe though."

"I want to go with you."

"We're going into the center of all this madness."

"But I love you X."

"Violet, I don't know…"

She touched his arm. Axl stepped aside for the time being. This was between them. "But I know you're better than you appear to be. I know you can be a very good person if you'd only give up the frivolous mask you wear all the time. You've lied to everyone, even yourself, about who you are, and I've seen through that. If this Eternal Clock tries to judge you like Forte said it would, I want to make sure your true self is judged, not what you've been pretending to be."

"Forte told you that?"

"I went to him to find you. I remembered he said once he was the Oracle of the Eternal Clock."

"But I told you that…"

"And I don't care what excuse you have, but I still love you." She smiled. "I'll wait patiently until you learn to think things through better. It will be worth it when you can…"

"Shh," he said, interrupting her this time by touching behind one of her ears. "Violet, little kitten…"

She only had eyes for him, which oddly enough was a whole lot better than the looks he got from any other girl. Violet did have her own mind, so perhaps everything before had been only excuses. They were only excuses in avoiding closeness, which he always resisted but gave into eventually. So maybe she did have a point that X was lying to even himself. She might be safer with him and Axl.

Axl was trying to let them be, but he was naturally curious and these were two people he'd known and loved all his life, so maybe it was okay just to stand aside and witness… thus even he missed the entrance of a fourth party, who promptly attacked with a neon blue force field crushing both X and Violet. X could handle the attack. Violet couldn't.

"Violet!" X knelt down to check on her, even though it was obvious by the crumpled remains of her armor that she had no chance against the attack.

Axl whipped his pistols back out and met with a large black reploid with heavy armor and a full helmet. As if that weren't enough, the neon force field reappeared around his body as a shield. "What was that for?" he yelled as he fired at the stranger.

His bullets pinged off the force field. The stranger didn't even wince. "I can't stand romance," he said. "It causes way too many complications."

"But you don't even know us."

"Au contraire, little shape shifter Axl. I know you and Rockman X. I saved you both a lot of trouble in getting rid of some extra girl who doesn't matter."

X got up. "You are going to pay for this."

"Right. Like you could do anything against me, High Max, now the greatest warrior of multiple worlds."

"Like Gate said," X recalled.

Max growled. "Gate? Is that traitorous father of mine still around? I was certain he'd be given what he deserved."

"What are you talking about?" Axl asked.

"Gate made me to be the ultimate warrior! And then you," he said pointing to X spitefully, "had to humiliate me and convince him to give up on warfare. It was terrible."

"I think you've got your worlds crossed," X said. "I only know Gate as the Gatekeeper who took me across the Sea of Primal Chaos. He doesn't remember a thing of your home world."

"Never mind. I've grown stronger in my world traveling and I will now humiliate you completely! Oh yes, but first… the Eternal Clock needs a new Oracle."

"New Oracle?"

High Max grumbled. "Yeah, and they send me to fetch the new one. Bloody ingrates who don't know who they're ordering about. Apparently the last one was killed when the Clock struck eleven."

X felt mild alarm. "The Clock has struck eleven already?"

"When you were out to Sea. It is close to striking twelve, and then it will be finished with. But the new Oracle…" he chuckled. "Let's just take you, little punk!"

"Me?" Axl stepped back, but a ring of purple energy already surrounded him.

"Are you…?" X tried to move to Axl, but the energy ring threw him back.

In desperation, Axl activated the flicka ball and sent it hurdling toward High Max. He sent it low until it was just below Max's feet, then moved it upward right through him. The 'greatest warrior' screamed as the flicka tore him apart in one pass. But as it approached Axl on return, it caught on fire. Purple flames streamed around it like a comet before it exploded into fiery shrapnel. Nothing could approach Axl, now surrounded by witchfire.

"Nice tactic," X commented.

"I have no choice," Axl said. "I have to be the Oracle of the Eternal Clock."

X got up. "There must be some choice! Axl, fight it."

"Don't come any closer," Axl said before X stepped onto a thin purple line at the edge of the energy. "You have the Shield Key. And Violet has given you the door."

"But what about you?"

Axl closed his eyes. "Hold on, I'm seeing so much all of a sudden… I can see nearly everything, which makes it difficult to focus on the moment and know what to say. The whole Truth is clear. The details, though…"

X nodded. "Forte had that sort of blindness."

"That's exactly what made him so hard to understand, and made it hard for him to understand. I'm trying…" he began to float off the floor, like how Forte was when X ran across him with wings of witchfire. "Dad, please be careful. Zero, the Goddess, and you are connected."

"Connected?"

Axl looked very afraid. "The Goddess is empowered off of shadows, sins, dark emotions, dark energies. The one in charge has linked the Goddess to you. The Goddess is now powered on everything you have done wrong. All of your transgressions are now embodied in the Goddess."

"Everything wrong in me?"

"You must face your shadows in form of the Goddess now. If you succeed, I will be with the owner of this machine and you will come speak with us about stopping the Eternal Clock. If you fail then everything will be over. You will die before…"

"Before what?" he asked when Axl didn't continue.

"I… I can't reveal that now. You must face your own soul. I must go to the Clock. It will soon toll twelve. Be careful, but hurry."

"Axl, please don't…"

"Remember us." Then he vanished in a blaze of witchfire.


	44. The Final Judgment

X had felt loneliness before, but not as sharply as he did now. At least Violet's crushed body wasn't there anymore. Then he thought. Perhaps, since Reality is so unstable at the moment, perhaps if I break the Clock, she will come through. It was a possibility that couldn't be ignored. He looked at the door. It was old, wooden, wrecked, on the floor, but it had a keyhole. It would have to do.

He knelt down and put the key in the lock. It glowed bright yellow for a moment, then clicked. He turned the knob and opened the door. It led into a beautiful marble hallway, running vertically.

Would he fall through? He wasn't sure. But it was a pocket of pure Order, so… he stepped down into the doorway. His gyroscope array complained about the shift in gravity, but he was soon upright. Good so far.

He walked down the hall. It was perfect in every way. Nothing was out of place. No cracks. No dust. No spots. No chips. No tears. Absolutely no flaws. It was so perfect it was creepy. Now he believed Gate's statement that both Chaos and Order were necessary. The extremes of both were not good.

X threw open the door at the end of the hall. It looked like a large ballroom, with more of the white marble surfaces. The lofty ceiling was painted with a fractal design, perfect mathematical order trying to be chaos. The Goddess was in the room, looking exactly like Zero, except she had glowing red eyes.

"You are now my every shadow?" X asked of him/her.

"Now that I know them all," the Goddess said, in her own voice and in Zero's at the same time. "I am powered off every dark emotion you have ever felt. You don't stand a chance."

"I don't believe that."

"Very well." He activated his saber, now as black as night. "You'll see."

X got ready to attack, but Zero moved in the blink of an eye. In the time it took him to fire once, not even charged, Zero had pummeled him with the black saber, putting X on system failure alert. Then he picked X up and threw him across the room. Angel throbbed and hummed from where she was on X's back.

"You've destroyed everyone and everything you came in contact with," he said. "You broke every heart that dared to love you. Even your child. Axl feared with every nightmare that he would meet you on the battlefield as an enemy. And the one who believed in you most. She would have forgiven you of everything, but you turned Violet away in irrational fear for yourself, and didn't say a word when you had the chance. There is nothing that can save you now."

"I tried to stop. I tried to change. You know it. If I just have more time…"

"You have no time. You have no hope. Your day of judgment has come and found you wanting. Now only dark shadows will remain with you."

The Goddess was approaching him, not quickly this time. She'd done enough damage to destroy him in one stroke. She just wanted him to suffer through it. He thought furiously, accepting any possibility, for there were plenty of dead end ideas.

There was a song Zero played whenever he had nightmares, X recalled. Oceania. And this was certainly turning into a nightmare. X had Zero's Angel.

Doubting this would really work but hoping it would, X pulled Angel off his back, and start playing. He wasn't as good as Zero, but he had been taught the song. As he played the first few notes, the Goddess paused. But when she started to move again, he realized this alone would not stop her.

Oceania had no lyrics to it. But having no lyrics had not stopped Cyclone from singing some of his songs. X played Oceania with strange nonsensical sounds. After a few seconds, he began to get the hang of it and was better able to match the vocals to the guitar.

He noticed the Goddess moving, but decided he couldn't be paying attention to her. He focused all his attention on the music. It was a wonderful song and he'd always liked it as well. As he went on, he realized that Zero was right in playing this song after he'd had nightmares. It might not have driven away evil spirits, but it had an intense calming effect by drawing all one's attention to the song and not to the shadows that haunted one. He strayed from the original song some, but Zero did too, in sessions that lasted as long as need be.

As X played the song, he began to feel strangely at peace, something he'd never felt since long ago, before everything had gone wrong, when everything was right and safe. He thought of his last meeting with Axl and Violet, and then of other good memories. There were few truly good ones, ones where he didn't feel guilty or embarrassed in connection to thinking of them. Most were from recently, after he decided that he could no longer hold two lifestyles at the same time, or from long ago, the first few years when he had no shadows. But even in his most perverse times, he could still find light in a few places where he'd done something right.

So Violet was right after all. It was time to stop fooling himself and figure out what he really was. But what was that?

Eventually, the song had to end and X dropped his hand from Angel's strings. Zero was close in front of him. His eyes were blue again. He reached out and took Angel back. "I knew she was all you needed."

"I'm still not certain, about anything. But I feel that I can start over again and get things right this time."

"You did it. You found hope and a reason to respect yourself, which you've lost long ago. It doesn't matter what others judge of you. You know you can do better."

"Right."

"So there is forgiveness." Zero sighed in relief and closed his eyes. "I was like her."

X shook his head. "Not really; she was there to make sure you did what Dr. Wily wanted."

He laughed at that. "Right, you don't realize it yet. She represented all that was wrong with you. I represent all that is good with you."

"Never mind that idealistic junk." The ballroom vanished. In its place appeared a massive arrangement of gears, pulleys, levers, and wires. This was the Eternal Clock. Axl was floating between twelve large crystals. Dr. Wily was standing below them, with Avery close by. The kid grinned at them. But Wily was confident. "I still have Absolute Fate and it won't matter anymore." The Clock began to toll twelve.

"Are you Dr. Light?" X asked of the five year old.

"Yes, I am."

Wily put his robotic arm on Light's shoulder. "But I hold his life in my hands."

"Albert, you're forgetting something."

"No I am not. This is my moment of glory, my machine!"

Thomas Light shook his head. "No. The Eternal Clock is my machine."

Wily, Light, and Zero flickered several times before vanishing completely. X approached Axl and the crystals warily. "The Eternal Clock belongs to my father?"

"This has all been a thirty year virtual reality trial," Axl explained. "None of this ever happened."

"This… this has all been a lie?"

"In a way, yes. You experienced everything as reality, and everything reacted to you in accordance to the testing parameters. No one in this world is real, dad. Only your mind exists."

"But why? Why did you do this to me, father?" He almost lost his temper as he often did in his father's presence. But Dr. Light was gone now, and only Axl remained. "Why all this?"

"Thomas Light was old when he finished you. He knew that if he activated you when he was due to death shortly, you would be left in a world where no one understood your technology. The people of that age are used to robots, not beings like yourself. You would have suffered greatly and the world would not know or care until you turned to violence. If you did that, then the problems you would cause would be immense. But most of all, you would not understand why you had to go that far to get attention. You would suffer psychological problems, perhaps far worse than you inflicted on yourself in this trial. Your father gave you this test of ethics to let you test your limits and learn the consequences, while keeping you safe from permanent damage. So, yes, he has made you suffer in doing this. But it is far less than what could have happened in reality."

"So this whole life was a lie from start to finish…"

"Yes."

"But… it's been way more than thirty years."

"There were times when you thought long periods of time passed but they didn't. For instance, you thought you spent years working on me. But in reality, you spent very little time on my construction and programming. The VR program sensed what you wanted to do and gave you the perception that you had done everything required to get that result. That is why your memory of some periods of time is hazy and uncertain."

"I thought it was because I was drunk a lot."

"That had something to do with it too."

X thought about it. "I didn't do well on this test, did I?"

Axl did something with his hands. All twelve crystals shimmered. "There were times you failed critical parts and that nearly made you fail the whole. There were other times when you risked everything on a gamble or a chance, times when a bad result could not be calculated by the VR trial program. So the program would have to skew odds in your favor."

"Like that poker game where I won the shop."

"That night had to be skewed heavily. It shouldn't have been so." He paused, looking concerned. "Someone on the outside was supposed to check in on your progress, and modify the trials in case of unplanned events. And you really pushed the programming limits at times."

"I was an idiot at times," X said regretfully.

"But you realize that now, that's the important thing. Still, the fact that no one has logged in for twenty-five years is of concern. Dr. Light gave several people access, so one of them should have come…"

He realized something. "Wait, so if this is all a simulation, is Dr. Light still around outside? Or… no, he would have checked in. What if no one's around but all these people in my head, in this virtual reality? And what would have happened if I had failed?" The prospective answers for both questions were starting to scare him. Even if the virtual reality was reset so he didn't have that awful reputation anymore, X didn't think he could forget that it wasn't real.

"Don't be scared," Axl said, floating over to him and putting his hand on his shoulder. "Someone must be out there who knows. I'm aware of a messaging program that will alert people, so someone will come. As for what could have happened, you continually flirted with disaster and death, so you nearly had to be shut down before you even lived. But just as the program was about to give you up as irreversibly flawed, you made me. Perhaps you did not care much for your own fate at the time, but you began to care about mine."

"Well of course I cared about that," X said.

He smiled. "You made me in hopes you could outdo Dr. Light, to prove yourself better than your father. But in doing so, you gave him the chance to open your eyes and turn you around. I'm sure he's very sorry it had to be done by nearly killing me. I am glad, and he is as well, that you followed through and eventually found yourself. And the karmic program, Zero and the Goddess, well he's spent much of his recent time asking for your forgiveness. His will for that, once you accepted Angel's help, was enough to overcome her asking for your destruction. You should have the moral strength now to live in reality."

"Maybe, but I'm not sure about myself. Yes, I've learned that I should think more carefully before pursuing what I want, that rules and honor have a reason, and that I should care about my soul. But I don't know anything now. I loved my lifestyle, but I know I can't do that anymore without bitter consequences. I loved mechanics, but I know now that this program faked a lot of it for me. I loved music, but now I'm not sure I can do that anymore. Maybe I don't know anything! Why did he even build me in the first place? Especially since he couldn't be around to see me active. Why am I alive? And for that matter, who am I anyways? I can't rely on most of my old friends like… my friends? I can't recall their names."

"Your memories of this time will be purged," the Oracle explained. His voice was altering, was starting to sound like Dr. Light's voice.

The karmic program reasserted itself, trying to fight off the purging. "I told you, he needs more time! Are we sure we want to send him out like this?"

"I'm sorry," the Oracle program said. "But we've run for our allotted time and he has cleared this examination. The virtual reality is set to exterminate itself after thirty years. Everything that happened will be nothing to you, X. It was decided, perhaps rightfully so, that even though learning these lessons was important, it might be embarrassing enough that the shame would affect you negatively. Especially if someone untrustworthy got a copy of these proceedings."

"But how is this supposed to be a moral guideline if I don't remember it?" X asked.

"Everything that you have learned will remain as a base guideline for your future behavior. You will know the consequences of actions you have forgotten you have done. That will hopefully help guide you as an instinctive moral compass."

"I'll forget everything? Even… my own son… did I ever have a child of my own? Please, help me."

"Just reset the VR program," the Karma program insisted. "No one has logged in for twenty-five years, for goodness sakes! Everyone who was granted access is on the receiving end of the notification program. We don't know if anyone will get it, so we don't know when someone will come to fully wake him up."

"I'm alone?" X asked. "Except for you, and then I won't remember? Is anyone out there?"

"We can't really tell," the Karma program told him. "Most of this chamber is sealed off for your protection. Oracle, you see what we're doing? We'll be leaving him trapped in nothing. At least let him keep dreaming so he won't be alone."

The Oracle program had been quiet, as nervous as it could manage to be in its current form. "The VR program can't be reset. It is to be exterminated."

"You can hold that off right?"

"I require orders from outside to do so."

"But can't we do something?" X asked, trying to think. He used to be a really good hacker. But, what did he really know?

"I want to leave him with something…"

"You have passed my trials," Dr. Light said. But Oracle and Karma were no longer there. It was a recording. "Your mind is now free to be activated. Someone should be along shortly to awaken you."

X ran up to him. "But father, who am I?"

"Farewell my child."

"Father!"


	45. And Now I Wait

He did right. I keep telling myself that. He did the right thing.

I wish I could remember what though.

Or who. I know something happened. I can't seem to figure it out.

Who am I and why am I here, thinking, alone?

It's been ten years now that I've been thinking alone. I've kept a counter going. Otherwise, I wouldn't know that. Every so often, my mind erases itself and I keep thinking, by myself. The counter says it's been going on for ten years.

Sometimes the phrase tough love passes through my mind, but can't find a place to fixate itself. It was the right thing. Letting a child make mistakes in a safe environment, so that when he gets to the real world, he knows what to do, what not to do. Parents love their children, but know that sometimes you have to let them touch the fire and get burned. For under their parents' eyes, such a deed is easily forgiven, but in the real world, the child would get laughed at.

Where did that idea come from?

It's been ten years. He said someone would be along soon.

What's happened? Why am I still here alone, thinking? Why does my mind keep erasing itself? Well, I can answer that one, I think. If I remembered all those ten lonely years, thinking to myself, I would go crazy. Sometimes I think that now, and then it gets erased. And when everything gets erased, I notice my counter steadily climbing by seconds. And the questions return, but the order is always the same.

Who am I? Why am I alone and thinking?

I wish someone would awaken me.

Why everything?

And then when everything seems too lonely, a song invades my mind. I can't identify the song, but I know it in my soul. It calms my frantic thoughts and brings me peace. If I could, I would find a way to play it all the time. But songs always end and I am left alone again, thinking, wondering when the song will play next. I have a small fear that if I do wake up, I will forget the song too and will never hear it. I hope that does not happen. I hope I do remember it. Can I play the song? I'm not sure. I hope I can.

And I keep waiting for the song, for the erasing, for the day when someone will find me and awaken me. Then perhaps I will have answers.

Most of all, I want answers to one question.

Who am I?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bizarre ending for a nutty story. I hope you enjoyed the ride!
> 
> I was very tempted to put this in my MMX collection here. It actually would not be out of place. However, I clearly state in that description that the stories are all linked. Putting this there would give away the ending, so it's on its own.


End file.
